Gilded Age

The time period in American history known as the Gilded Age was recognized for its transition from a nation of the pioneers’ settlements of the American West, to that of huge industrial expansion centered on cities and factories. Inventions, advances in technologies, and revolutionary innovations lead to the unprecedented economic and industrial growth of this era. Improvements in transportation with the enormous expansion of the transcontinental railroad, which occurred even before the demand for such railroads existed, spurred growth in many areas. Technological advances such as the Bessemer process, greatly increased the rates for steel production which soon lead to steel replacing iron for railroad construction. The spread of the railroads for
A few tycoons such as Cornelius Vanderbilt, John D. Rockefeller, J Pierpont Morgan, Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford, and Jay Gould controlled these massive corporations. These men amassed great wealth in a short period of time at the expense of ordinary people. A common laborer, for example would earn less than $10 per week working twelve hours days, six days a week in 1890. This led to a large wealth disparity between the relatively few newly rich, and the masses of people struggling to survive. The wealth of the newly rich tycoons of the late 1800’s surpassed even the fortune of the most upper-class wealthy Americans of that era. These newly rich citizens were also inclined to ensure everyone knew of their wealth and success by extravagant spending. The Vanderbilt family was one of these notoriously wealthy families who built Marble House, an example of this lavish spending and extravagant life style. Marble House was built between 1888-1892, at a total cost of $11 million. The Vanderbilt family spent $7 million for the marble alone. The architect for Marble House was Richard Hunt, who drew upon two famous historic building designs: The Parthenon (5th century B.C E Athens