Ulysses S. Grant, Eighteenth U.S. President
(1869-1877)
The Jesse James Gang
conduct the first successful train robbery in the American West on July 21, 1873.
Frank & Jesse James' second cousin twice removed, Elizabeth "Betsy"
James Vardeman, who passed away in 1822 was Reverend Jeremiah Vardeman's
first wife. He passed away in 1842. Their grandchildren who
were alive at this time were 4th cousins to Frank and Jesse James.
Financial Panic of 1873
Rockefeller (Standard Oil) made up 40% of railroads customer base.
When the railroads insisted he pay full price rather than a discounted
price Rockefeller built a pipeline to transport his refined kerosene
rather than use the trains. One-third of the 360 railroad companies in America went bankrupt according to an excellent
dramatized documentary called
"The Men Who Built America"
available through the History Channel on Amazon Prime. The New York
Stock Exchange shut down for ten days. This was the first national
depression. Unemployment was rampant as railroad jobs disappeared due to
railroad bankruptcies.
Technology:
Brooklyn Bridge
Work begins on the anchorage structures. 4 years down, 10 to go to finish.
It's magnificent twin towers, breathtaking span, cutting edge
technology, and sheer beauty make Brooklyn Bridge the grandest,
and perhaps the most important structure built in America during
the nineteenth century. It was called "the eighth wonder of the
world."
Curlee, Lynn Brooklyn Bridge New York: Atheneum Books, 2001.
World Fair celebrating peasant homes all over
the world
Vienna, Austria 1873
(1 May - 1 November)
Location: the Prater (42 acres)
Architectural Wonder:
iron and glass dome rotunda supported by 32 pillars (79-feet tall)
Visitors: 7 million
Mattie, Erik World's Fairs Princeton Architectural Press, 1998, New York: New York.
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