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First Oil Well is Drilled
George Bissell and Edwin L. Drake drilled the first successful well for producing oil in Titusville, Pennsylvania. -
Transcontinental Railroad is Completed
The Transcontinental Railroad was completed in Promontory, Utah. This was the first railroad connecting the East and the West and had been a dream of many Americans for awhile. -
Rockefeller founds Standard Oil
John D. Rockefeller eliminated all oil competition when he founded the Standard Oil Company of Ohio, which refined oil. -
Bell patents telephone
Alexander Graham Bell patented his telephone that made it possible to transmit actual voices instead of morse code. -
First telephone on White House
President Rutherford B. Hayes got the first telephone installed in the telegraph room of the White House. -
Edison perfects incandescent light bulb
The "Wizard of Menlo Park" perfects his invention of the lightbulb, that would change America's households and businesses forever. -
Railroads set up standard time zones
Four standard time zones were introduce to the United States that helped officers plan a uniform train schedule. -
First electric trolley line
In Richmond, VA, the first electric trolley was made in Richmond Union Passenger Railway built by Frank J. Sprague. -
Sherman Antitrust Act is passed
This is a landmark federal statute in the history of United States antitrust law. It was passed by Congress under the presidency of Benjamin Harrison. -
Carnegie Steel Company is formed
Andrew Carnegie forms a steel company in Pennsylvania that bought out steel rivals, iron mines, railroad and steamship lines, and warehouses. -
J.P. Morgan forms U.S. Steel
J.P. Morgan bought steel companies and forms the United States Steel Company, which is worth more then a billion dollars.