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Big Business and the West Time Line
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First oil well is drilled, Pennsylvania
On August 28, 1859, George Bissell and Edwin L. Drake created the first drilling rig which drilled the first oil well named after Edwin L. Drake, "Drake Well". This drilling rig can be found on Oil Creek near Titusville, Pennsylvania. It was also referenced to be the first commercial oil well in history. -
Transcontinental railroad is completed
The purpose of a transcontinental railroad was to ship goods across continents to foreign areas where they couldn't previously ship with ease. The first transcontinental railroad was a 1,907-mile railroad line which crossed from the west of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. It connected to the Pacific Ocean at San Fransisco Bay co-existing with the railroad east of it which connected to Council Bluffs, Iowa. -
Rockefeller founds Standard Oil
John D. Rockefeller was a cunning man that hated competition, so it was his decision to create a monopoly over several businesses and thus the idea of creating the first oil business spawned. It's name was "Standard Oil" and it was a company that was responsible for producing, transporting, refining goods, and was also a marketing company. -
Bell patents telephone
Alexander Graham Bell was responsible for inventing the telephone and creating the "Bell Telephone Company". The telephone was looked at as a toy and no one could take the concept of a phone seriously. The phone was a superior tool to the telegraph due to being capable of transferring vocal messages rather than sending dots and lines to decode. Overall the telephone proved to be more time efficient and superior to the telegraph which led to Bell creating his own company for his telephones. -
First telephone on White House
President Rutherford B. Hayes was responsible for installing the first telephone in the the white house. Although the white house didn't receive many calls, President Rutherford B. Hayes was delighted to have the telephone in the white house. Although the white house wasn't the first to have a telephone installed, the treasury department also had a telephone installed. -
Edison perfects incandescent light bulb
Edison was the first person to commercialize his incandescent light bulb. It was a brilliant idea as it's main use was to be used in homes or outdoors to light up the way. For the streets, it was used to light up the roads a bit more and hopefully decrease crime rates. Light bulbs indoors were used to conserve money as people would by candles almost daily and the chances of the wick of the candle catching on fire was very high. -
First electric trolley line, Richmond, VA
This was the first trolley system of it's time, it was a an amazing form of transportation around close neighboring areas. The purpose of the electric trolley was to efficiently transport people a few blocks down as quick as possible as some people did not have the leisure of riding a animal drawn carriage and it was not as fast as the electric trolley. There were 74 earlier attempts recorded and over 60 communities failed throughout the US. -
Railroads set up standard time zones
As time zones were different across the world and the US, there weren't many reliable forms of keeping time and most of society just used sun dials or water clocks. Due to the railroads transferring across the US, it was only reasonable to set up different time zones between each station so people don't lose track of time or be confused by the sun rising earlier than expected. -
Sherman Antitrust Act is passed
The Sherman Antitrust Act was an attempt at stopping the growth of trusts let alone the creation of trusts itself. Trusts were created among huge monopolies which allowed the stockholders to have some control over the business they have invested in. Although it proved to be ineffective due to the wealthy having a lot of influence over the congress and many other political powers. -
Carnegie Steel Company is formed
Andrew Carnegie was responsible for founding the "Carnegie Steel Company". It was a company responsible for producing steel which was mainly used in railroads because of how iron used to rust excessively which was dangerous for railroad companies. Andrew Carnegie sought out this business in order to expand his monopoly and further improves his wealth. -
J.P. Morgan forms U.S. Steel
J.P. Morgan was a notorious man for being very intelligent with his business decisions in life. He was one of the few big giants that created a monopoly in order to expand his wealth and influence. Due to J.P. Morgans ambitions, he decides to found the U.S. Steel. It was the 15th largest steel producer, it produced quality products while mass producing the products, mainly consisting of steel.
