Everything about William Henry Vanderbilt totally explained
» This article is about the railroad magnate. For his grandson, the governor of Rhode Island, see William Henry Vanderbilt III.
William Henry Vanderbilt (
May 8 1821 –
December 8 1885) was a businessman and a member of the prominent
United States Vanderbilt family.
Biography
William Vanderbilt was born in New York. He inherited nearly $100 million from his father, railroad mogul and family patriarch "The Commodore"
Cornelius Vanderbilt, and had increased it to almost $194 million at his death less than nine years later. At the time of his death, he was the richest man in the world; no living person, including the world's richest royalty, even approached him in wealth. In
1841 he married Maria Louisa Kissam (
1821–
1896), the daughter of a
Presbyterian minister.
Vanderbilt said in an interview with the
Chicago Daily News on October 9, 1882, "The railroads are not run for the benefit of the 'dear public' -- that cry is all nonsense -- they're built by men who invest their money and expect to get a fair percentage on the same." In 1883, when questioned by a reporter about the discontinuance of a fast
mail train popular with the public, he declared: "The public be damned!... I don't take any stock in this silly nonsense about working for anybody but our own."
His mean, intimidating father Cornelius constantly berated and criticized him, thinking his eldest son a "blockhead" and a "blatherskite", two of the Commodore's favorite insults.
[1] Billy (as he was called) longed to show his father that he was not, in fact, a blatherskite, but he never dared stand up to the fearsome Commodore, always cringing under his father's rudeness.
His father carefully oversaw his business training, at age 18 starting him out as a clerk in a New York banking house. After joining the executive of the
Staten Island railway, he was made its president in 1862 then three years later he was appointed vice-president of the Hudson River railway. Billy showed a knack for business, being a valuable part of the family railroad empire, gaining him the long-awaited respect and friendship that he felt he deserved from his father.
In 1869, he was made vice-president of the
New York Central and Hudson River Railroad Company, becoming its president in 1877. As well, he took over from his father as president of
New York Central Railroad, the
Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway, the
Canada Southern Railway, and the
Michigan Central Railroad at the time of the Commodore's death.
He had actively expanded the family's railroad empire, and had added millions to the gargantuan Vanderbilt family fortune. In
1883, his elder sons assumed the head positions in the family railroad empire at his retirement and inherited his massive fortune at his death. It was in his sons time that the Vanderbilt family demanded social recognition, and gained it with the efforts of his daughter-in-law
Alva, from the older families of
New York City high society, centered on the
Astor family, whom the Vanderbilts had by then far outstripped in wealth. After Alva's social conquests, the Vanderbilts were recognized as one of
the leaders of American high society in the Gilded Age.
He and his wife had eight children: four sons and four daughters.
Vanderbilt was an extremely active philanthropist, giving back extensively to a number of philanthropic causes including the
YMCA, funding to help establish the
Metropolitan Opera and an endowment for the
College of Physicians and Surgeons at
Columbia University. In 1880, he provided the money for
Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee to construct the Wesley Hall building for use as the Biblical Department and library and included 160 dormitory rooms for students and professors, lecture halls, as well as a cafeteria. The building was destroyed by fire in 1932 and his son Frederick made another donation to help cover the insurance shortfall and allow a new building to be constructed.
Vanderbilt was an avid art enthusiast; his collection included some of the most valuable works of the
Old Masters, and over his lifetime Vanderbilt acquired more than 200 paintings, which he housed in his lavish and palatial
Fifth Avenue mansion.
Death
In 1883, he resigned all his company presidencies and had his sons appointed as important chairmen but left the day-to-day running of the businesses to experienced men appointed president. He died and was interred in the Vanderbilt family mausoleum at the
Moravian Cemetery in
New Dorp on
Staten Island, New York. His estate was divided amongst his eight children and his wife, the bulk of the estate going to his eldest two sons, William K. Vanderbilt and Cornelius Vanderbilt II.
Children
Children of William Henry Vanderbilt and Maria Louisa Kissam:
- Cornelius Vanderbilt II (1843–1899)
- Margaret Louisa Vanderbilt-Shepherd (1845–1924)
- William Kissam Vanderbilt (1849–1920)
- Emily Thorn Vanderbilt (1852–1946)
- Florence Adele Vanderbilt-Twombly (1854–1952)
- Frederick William Vanderbilt (1856–1938)
- Eliza Osgood Vanderbilt-Webb (1860–1936)
- George Washington Vanderbilt II (1862–1914)
Holdings
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad
Chicago and Canada Southern Railway
Detroit and Bay City Railroad
Hudson River Railroad
Hudson River Bridge
Joliet and Northern Indiana Railroad
Michigan Midland and Canada Railroad
New York Central and Hudson River Railroad
New York Central Sleeping Car Company
New York and Harlem Rail Road
Spuyten Duyvil and Port Morris Railroad
Staten Island Rail-RoadFurther Information
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