-
William Kelly and Henry Bessemer discover a way to process iron ore into steel
Credited with being one of the inventors of modern steel production, through the process of injecting air into molten iron. -
Edwin Drake strikes oil in Pennsylvania
Edwin Drake was the first man to ever successfullly drill oil. -
National Labor Union is Organized
The National Labor Union was the first national labor federation in the United States. It was led by William H. Sylvis. -
Joseph McCoy established a cattle trading station in Kansas
Kansas eased the law in 1867, allowing Texas cattle to be driven through "the first guide meridian west from the sixth principal meridian." -
Christopher Sholes inventss the typewriter
An American inventor who invented the first practical typewriter and the QWERTY keyboard still in use today.[3] He was also a newspaper publisher and Wisconsin politician. -
Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads meet at Promontory Point, Utah
Promontory Summit had been agreed as the point where the two railheads would officially meet following meetings in Washington, D.C. in April 1869. -
George Westinghouse invents the air brakes
George westinghouse invented the railway air brake in New York. -
John D. Rockefeller creates Standard Oil in Ohio
Standard Oil Co. Inc. was an American oil producing, transporting, refining, and marketing company. -
The Great Railroad Strike
The strike started in Martinsburg, West Virginia, in response to the cutting of wages for the third time in a year by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. -
Edison invents the Phonograph
The Phonograph was invented for the recording of sound. -
Terrence Powderly becomes the leader of the Knights of Labor
The Knights of Labor was one of the largest American labor organizations of the 19th century, but Powderly was a bad administrator and couldn't keep it under control. -
Samuel Gompers becomes leader of American Federation of Labor
The AFL was the largest union grouping in the United States for the first half of the 20th century, even after the creation of the Congress of Industrial Organizations -
Haymarket Square Riot
A labor protest that quickly turned into a riot in Chicago -
The Statue of Liberty is Unveiled
The Statue of Liberty, a gift to the United States from the people of France, was officially unveiled to the public by President Grover Cleveland. -
Andrew Carnegie publishes The Gospel of Wealth
An article that describes the responsibility of philanthropy by the new upper class of self-made rich. -
Forest Reserve Act passed
A law that allowed the President of the United States to set aside forest reserves from the land in the public domain. -
Rivers and Harbors Act passed
The Act makes it a misdemeanor to discharge refuse matter of any kind into the navigable waters, or tributaries thereof, of the United States without a permit. -
Andrew Carnegie sells U.S. Steel to J.P. Morgan for $480 million
A Scottish-American industrialist who led the enormous expansion of the American steel industry -
Standard OIl is dissolved
It was the worlds largest munitional corporation.
