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First oil well is drilled
Drake made the first successful use of a drilling rig on a well drilled especially to produce oil, at a site on Oil Creek near Titusville, Pennsylvania. -
Transcontinental railroad is completed
a golden spike was driven at Promontory, Utah, signaling the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in the United States. -
Rockefeller founds Standard Oil
Rockefeller founded Standard Oil as an Ohio partnership with his brother William along with Henry Flagler, Jabez A. Bostwick, chemist Samuel Andrews, and a silent partner, Stephen V. Harkness. -
Bell patents telephone
Alexander Graham Bell received a patent for the telephone; three days later, he and associate Thomas Watson successfully tested their invention. -
First telephone on White House
On this day in 1877, President Rutherford B. Hayes has the White House’s first telephone installed in the mansion s telegraph room. -
Edison perfects incandescent light bulb
Thomas Edison perfects the first commercially practical incandescent light bulb. Using a filament of carbonized cotton thread, his first attempt at this design results in a bulb that lasts about 13.5 hours before burning out. -
Railroads set up standard time zones
also called "The Day of Two Noons", when each railroad station clock was reset as standard-time noon was reached within each time zone. The zones were named Intercolonial, Eastern, Central, Mountain, and Pacific. -
First electric trolley line, Richmond, VA
Siemens AG continued developing and testing electric trams and eventually on 16 May 1881, Werner von Siemens opened the world's first electric tram line in Lichterfelde near Berlin, Germany. 1923 view of Perley Thomas streetcars in Richmond, Virginia, the city where Sprague demonstrated his system in 1888. -
Sherman Antitrust Act is passed
Approved July 2, 1890, The Sherman Anti-Trust Act was the first Federal act that outlawed monopolistic business practices. The Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 was the first measure passed by the U.S. Congress to prohibit trusts. -
Carnegie Steel Company is formed
was a steel producing company created by Andrew Carnegie to manage business at his steel mills in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area in the late 19th century. -
J.P. Morgan forms U.S. Steel
News of the industrial consolidation arrived to newspapers in mid-January 1901. U.S. Steel was founded later that year and was the first billion-dollar company in the world with an authorized capitalization of $1.4 billion. Morgan was a member of the Union Club in New York City.
