- Date:
- 1855
- Original Format:
- Photographic Print
- Item#:
- MES05018
Cornelius Vanderbilt (1794-1877)
Cornelius Vanderbilt was an American financier. In 1849, during the Gold Rush, he established a route by Lake Nicaragua to California. In 1862 he sold his ships and entered into a great career of railroad financing, gradually obtaining a controlling interest in a large number of railways. He gave a large sum of money to found Vanderbilt University at Nashville, Tennessee.