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Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie was born on November 25th, 1835 to William and Margret Carnegie. He had no excess to formal education, and worked in a cotton mill as a young boy. He then invested in oil and steel industries, and established Carnegie Steel Company in Pittsburgh, and became a dominant force in the steel industry. He then sold his company to J.P. Morgan for 480 million dollars, and turned to philanthropy, donating more than $350 million, and passed away on August 11th, 1919. -
John D. Rockefeller
On July 8th, 1839, John Davidson Rockefeller was born to William and Eliza Rockefeller. After dropping out of high school at 15, he went to college at Flosom Mercantile College. Once graduated, he founded Standard Oil Company in 1870. Rockefeller grew the company until he retired from day-to-day operations in 1896. He then founded the University of Chicago, and donated a total of $540 million through philanthropy. -
Purchase of Alaska
The United States made the final transaction for the state of Alaska on October 18th of 1867. The deal consisted of 7.2 USD to Russia in exchange for the 365 million acres of land that would soon be known as Alaska. The U.S. thoroughly paid 2 cents per acre, and expanded the nation by 600000 square miles. -
Great Chicago Fire
On October 8, 1871, there was an outbreak of fire in a barn on DeKoven street of Chicago, IL. The fire then spread itself by burning the pollution and trash on the city's central river, and sped through the North side of Chicago. An estimated 300 people lost their lives between October 8th and 10th, and the main reason for the size of the fire was the fact that the entire city was made of wood. This lead to most cities and building being made of things like industrial steel and other metals. -
Brooklyn Bridge
In January of 1869, Washington Roebling, son of John A. Roebling (Owner of Roeling Wire Products), started on construction for the Brooklyn Bridge. The bridges main purpose was to form a connection route from the developing cities of Manhattan and Brooklyn. The addition of this bridge created a safe, more efficient way to travel between the two expanding boroughs. The bridge was finished on May 24th of 1883, and at a length of 1519 feet, it was the largest suspension bridge at the time. -
Johnstown Flood
On the 31st of May, 1889, the residents of Johnstown, PA were hit with a wall of water and debris that tore down towards the city at 40 miles per hour, and reaching heights of 60 feet in some areas. The flood was cause by both lack of inspection to the dam that it bursted from, and the heavy rain over days prior. The flood tallied 2200 deaths, and destroyed a estimated 1600 homes. The flood also lead to many inspection and reglation rules over dam owners and operators. -
The Creation of the Airplane
In 1899, the Orville and Wilbur Wright started experimenting with kites, and the concept of aircraft control. In early December, they created their first successful aircraft, the Wright Flyer 1, and on December 17, they flew their plane in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, with Wilbur at the controls. This invention paved the way for modern air travel as we know it today. -
Triangle Shirtwaist Company Fire
On March 25th, 1911, the was, allegedly, a match/cigarette dropped into a discarded fabric bin, and a fire was sparked. A rapid spread of flames then tore across the eighth floor of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, which sold a popular woman's dress at the time. There was 146 casualties the day of the fire due to the cramped working conditions, and inward opening exits. This was the cause of several workplace laws put into place, as the public was outraged over the preventable disaster. -
Sinking of the Titanic
The titanic was finished on March 31st of 1912, and set sail on April 12th 1912. Despite hearing multiple warnings of icebergs, captain Edward Smith increased the speed of the ship, trying to get to its destination, New York, faster, and make news headlines. But at 11:40 PM, the "unsinkable" ship struck an iceberg in the Atlantic. It then went down in 160 minutes taking the lives of 1517 passengers and crew. This lead to more precautions on cruise ships, such as safety drills a more lifeboats. -
Panama Canal
After signing the Hay-Bunau-Varilla treaty, the U.S. had permission from Panama to build a canal through what was the thinnest part of the Americas. The process of building started on May 4th, 1904, and finished on August 15th, 1914. The canal was opened in 1922, and instantly dropped shipping prices by 31%. This impacted the efficiency of American trade very well, and vastly improved routes throughout the Americas.