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William Kelly and Henry Bessemer discover a way to process iron ore into steel
Kelly developed a steel maing process and used the help of Bessemer to patent the process/product. -
Edwin Drake strikes oil in Pennsylvania
The Drake Well in Titusville, Pa., became the first well in the United States to strike oil, sparking the rise of America’s multibillion-dollar oil industry -
National Labor Union is orgamized
The NLU was formed to organize skilled and unskilled laborers, farmers, and reformers into a coalition that would pressure Congress to pass a law limiting the workday to eight hours. -
Joseph McCoy established a cattle trading station in Kansas
He opened the Abilene Trail (in Kansas) through Indian Territory from Texas to transport cattle. -
Christopher Sholes invents the typewriter
Sholes invented a machine which mimicked the appearance of typeset pages by impressing one inked character at a time onto paper and developed the keyboard "qwerty" system. -
George Westinghouse invents the air brakes
Westinghouse's air brake system revolutionized the railroad industry, making braking safer and permitting trains to travel at higher speeds. -
Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroads meet at Promontory Point
Transcontinental railroad travel was now possible for the first time in U.S. history. -
John D. Rockefeller creates Standard Oil in Ohio
In 1870, he established Standard Oil, which by the early 1880s controlled some 90 percent of U.S. refineries and pipelines -
Edison invents the phonograph
Edison created a machine with two needles: one for recording and one for playback. -
The Great Railroad Strike
The Great Railroad Strike was caused by wage cutbacks and led to more violence/riots and the use of militia to reopen rails. -
Terrence Powderly becomes the leader of the Knights of Labor
Powderly dispensed with the earlier rules of secrecy and committed the organization to seeking the eight-hour day, abolition of child labor, equal pay for equal work, and political reforms including the graduated income tax. -
Samuel Gompers becomes the leader of American Federation of Labor
His three principles: advocated craft or trades unionism, believed in a pure-and-simple unionism that focused primarily on economic rather than political reform as the best way of securing workers' rights and welfare, he urged labor to follow a course of "political nonpartisanship." -
Haymarket Square Riot
It was a labor protest rally that occurred in Chicago which turned into a riot after someone threw a bomb at police. -
The Statue of Liberty is unveiled
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
Industrialist and wealthy businessman Andrew Carnegie argued that individual capitalists were duty bound to play a broader cultural and social role and thus improve the world. -
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
Carnegie became the richest man in the world. -
Standard Oil is dissolved
The Supreme Court ordered the dissolution of Standard Oil Company, ruling it was in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act
