The Vanderbilts: How America's Richest Family Lost It All

In 1877 Cornelius Vanderbilt left the largest fortune in America, made on ferries, steamships and railroads. This is the true story of how it was spent and split: a son who doubled it, a costume ball, Newport palaces, a duke's unwilling bride, the Lusitania, and the houses that ended up belonging to the public. Subscribe to US Industries and Fortunes: https://www.youtube.com/@usindustries... Chapters 0:00 A Hundred-Dollar Boat 5:40 The Nicaragua Shortcut 8:47 A Ship for Lincoln 10:50 Corners, Crooks and Bronze 13:53 Spirits and the Will 17:43 The Son Who Doubled It 21:14 Alva's Ball 24:26 The Summer Cottages 28:25 The Help 30:41 The Dollar Duchess 33:37 Heirs and Wreckage 36:07 What the Name Kept Did a relative work on this, or live through it? Tell us in the comments — and tell us what we should cover next. The narration is an AI voice. The photographs are archival; the painted scenes are illustrations, not photographs. Sources Cornelius Vanderbilt portrait - Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery The Commodore's Civil War - Vanderbilt University National New York Central Railroad Museum - City of Elkhart Audio Tour of the Vanderbilt Mansion - National Park Service Gowns and Mansions - The Metropolitan Museum of Art Alva Vanderbilt Belmont - National Park Service Our Story - Biltmore 10 Fast Facts About Biltmore - Biltmore Image credits Public domain, via: Bain News Service; Library of Congress; National Archives; Metropolitan Museum of Art; Harper's Weekly; Rijksmuseum; Internet Archive; National Park Service; Harris & Ewing; Wikimedia Commons Vanderbilt University (CC BY-SA 3.0), via Wikimedia Commons Acroterion (CC BY-SA 4.0), via Wikimedia Commons Drawn by H.B. Barlow; C.F. Cheffins, Lithog. (CC BY-SA 4.0), via Wikimedia Commons Drawn by J.C. Bourne; C.F. Cheffins, Lithog. (CC BY-SA 4.0), via Wikimedia Commons Ariarmstrong (CC BY-SA 3.0), via Wikimedia Commons Martin Furtschegger (CC BY 3.0), via Wikimedia Commons EvyRosita (CC BY-SA 3.0), via Wikimedia Commons Subscribe for a new episode of American industrial history every week. #Vanderbilt #CorneliusVanderbilt #RailroadHistory #Biltmore #OldMoney #AmericanHistory #IndustrialHistory #HistoryDocumentary