The Entire Vanderbilt Story in 15 Minutes: How America’s Richest Family Lost Everything

In 1877, Cornelius Vanderbilt died with more than $100 million, the biggest fortune in America. He started at sixteen with a $100 boat. His son doubled the money in less than nine years. Then the family built 70-room "summer cottages" and a 250-room mansion, threw a $250,000 costume ball, and married a daughter to an English duke. A hundred years later, 120 of the Commodore's descendants met at the university he founded, and according to a family historian, not one of them was a millionaire. This is the full story: the steamboat wars, the Gold Rush shortcut through Nicaragua, the railroads and Grand Central, the secret that made the fortune grow, the one decision in a will that broke it apart, the Gilded Age palaces, the Lusitania, the "trial of the century" over little Gloria Vanderbilt, and what is left of the family money right now. What destroys a great fortune faster: expensive palaces, or splitting the money among more and more heirs? Tell us what you think in the comments. ⏱ CHAPTERS 0:00 How America's Richest Family Lost Everything 1:26 The Boy with a Boat 2:33 The Steamboat War 3:47 A Shortcut to Gold 5:25 The Railroads 6:30 The Will 8:24 The Secret and the Mistake 9:21 The Gilded Age 11:29 The Fall 13:02 A Reunion Without Millionaires 14:16 What's Left Right Now 🔔 Subscribe for the full stories behind America's greatest family fortunes. Next up: the Guccis. 📚 Sources include "Fortune's Children" by Arthur T. Vanderbilt II, Vanderbilt University archives, the Preservation Society of Newport County, History.com, NBC News and Wikipedia. Some numbers come from a single source or differ between sources, and the video says so. Dollar conversions to today's money are approximate. #Vanderbilt #GildedAge #OldMoney #AmericanHistory #FamilyFortune