Carnegie Timeline

1835
Andrew Carnegie is born in Dunfermline, Scotland, to Margaret and Will Carnegie. Will Carnegie is a skilled weaver, and the Carnegies are one of the many working-class families in Dunfermline. A younger son, Tom, is born in 1843.

1847
Steam-powered looms are introduced in Scotland and hundreds of handloom workers are unemployed, including Andrew's father, Will.

1848
The Carnegies emigrate to U.S. aboard the S.V. Wiscasset.
They settle in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Andrew begins work as a bobbin boy in a textile mill, earning $1.20 per week. He later takes a job in a factory tending the steam engine and boiler, for $2.00 per week. He impresses his supervisor with his penmanship and is offered the chance to work as a clerk for the factory.

1849
Andrew works as a messenger boy in a telegraph office, earning $2.50 per week. Because he memorizes street names and the names of people to whom he takes messages, he is able to save time when he meets a recipient of a message on the street. Soon after, he is promoted to the position of telegraph operator and begins making $20 per month.

1853
Andrew becomes the personal telegrapher and assistant to Thomas Scott, the superintendent of the Pennsylvania Railroad's western division. He is paid $35 per month. He learns the ins and outs of the railroad industry, and makes innovative suggestions like keeping the telegraph office open 24 hours per day, and burning railroad cars following accidents, which clears the tracks and gets the trains quickly moving again.

1855
Will Carnegie dies at age 51.
Although Andrew is becoming successful in America, Will Carnegie had not been able to find work as a weaver. He had tried to produce his own cloth, traveling as far as Cincinnati to peddle it, but could find very few buyers. When he dies, Andrew is 20 years old and the only breadwinner in the family.

1856
Andrew Carnegie invests in sleeping cars.
He takes out a loan from a local bank and invests $217.50 in the Woodruff Sleeping Car Company. After about two years, he begins receiving a return of about $5000 annually, more than three times his salary from the railroad.

1859
Carnegie becomes the superintendent of the Pennsylvania Railroad's western division. He is now in charge of his own department and earns a salary of $1500 per year. He and his mother move to the upscale suburb of Homewood.

1861
Carnegie works for Union Army.
After Confederate mobs in Maryland destroy railroad lines, Carnegie assists Thomas Scott in supervising repairs. While working on the railroad, Carnegie notices that telegraph lines have also been cut and stops to repair them. When Carnegie arrives in Washington, he joins Scott in organizing the railroad and telegraph lines to Virginia. Carnegie invests in oil. Using money from his investment in the Woodruff Sleeping Car Company, Carnegie invests $11,000 in an oil company in Titusville, Pennsylvania. He receives a return of $17,868 after only one year.

1862
Carnegie travels to Dunfermline.

1863
Carnegie's income is $42,000.
About half of Carnegie's salary comes from his investment in oil and only $2400 from his salary at the railroad. Additional investments in the Piper and Schiffler Company, the Adams Express Company and the Central Transportation Company contribute over $13,000.

1864
Carnegie is drafted into the Union Army.
His options are to pay the federal government $300 or find a suitable replacement. Carnegie feels he has done his patriotic duty by supervising telegraph communications in 1861 and decides to pay a replacement $850 to serve in his place.

1865
Carnegie retires from the railroad.
Carnegie and several associates reorganize the Piper and Schiffler Company to found the Keystone Bridge Company. They envision building bridges with iron rather than wood, to make the bridges more durable. Thomas Scott loans Carnegie half of the $80,000 he needs for his investment.

1867
Carnegie establishes the Keystone Telegraph Company with several associates from the railroad. The company receives permission from the Pennsylvania Railroad to string telegraph wire across the railroad's poles, which stretch across the entire state. This is such a valuable asset that Keystone is able to merge almost immediately with the Pacific and Atlantic Telegraph Company, allowing Keystone's investors to triple their return.

1868
Carnegie writes himself a letter which outlines his plans for the future. He determines to resign from business at age 35 and live on an income of $50,000 per year, devoting the remainder of his money to philanthropic causes and most of his time to his education.

1872
On a visit to England, Carnegie visits Henry Bessemer's steel plants. The Freedom Iron Company, which Carnegie formed in 1861, had been using Bessemer's process of making steel for several years. While in England, Carnegie realizes the commercial potential of steel and returns to America with plans to expand his steel business.

1873
Carnegie donates a pool to Dunfermline.
Henry Clay Frick invests in coke. In 1871, Frick had organized the Frick Coke Company with money borrowed from family and neighbors. By 1873, a financial panic hits the US and Frick borrows more money to buy out his partners. Four years later the price of coke (link to glossary) quadrupled and Frick earned his first million.

1875
Carnegie opens his first steel plant, the Edgar Thomson Works, in Braddock, Pennsylvania. Not surprisingly, Carnegie's first order is for 2000 steel rails for the Pennsylvania Railroad.

1881
Carnegie, who has been one of Frick's largest coke customers, proposes a merger with Frick. At first Carnegie's interest totaled only about 11% of the stock, but he soon increases his share to over 50% of the company.

1883
Carnegie buys the Homestead Works, a rival mill.

1886
Carnegie defends unions.
He publishes an essay in Forum Magazine defending workers' right to organize into a union. He also publishes Triumphant Democracy, which sells over 70,000 copies and celebrates the American belief in democracy and capitalism. Carnegie's mother and brother die. At his home in Cresson, Pennsylvania, Andrew catches typhoid. He suffers a relapse when he learns of his brother's death. A month later, while Carnegie is still ill, his mother dies of pneumonia.

1887
Carnegie marries Louise Whitfield.
Carnegie and Frick disagree over a striking union. Henry Clay Frick organizes a coalition of coke companies to resist striking labor, but Carnegie has a large enough share in Frick's company to force him to settle with the workers. The tension between the two men is resolved for the time being, but Carnegie and Frick will disagree on labor issues in the future.

1889
Carnegie publishes "The Gospel of Wealth," in which he asserts that all personal wealth beyond that required to satisy the needs of one's family should be regarded as a trust fund to be administered for the benefit of the community. By the next year, Carnegie's annual take-home pay is
$25 million.

1892
The Homestead Strike occurs.
A union contract at Homestead expires. Carnegie is on vacation in Europe, and he directs Frick to handle the situation. The workers have been organizing a strike, and when they are locked out, the strike proceeds. Frick has prepared for a stand-off by hiring Pinkerton (link to glossary of terms) agents. The Pinkertons arrive and have a shoot out with workers for about twelve hours. Although the Pinkertons surrender, they are forced to pass through a crowd of hundreds of workers, who beat them mercilessly, severely injuring twenty of them. The state militia is sent to reclaim the mill, and strikebreakers are hired to re-open it. This incident marks the end of Carnegie's image as a friend of the worker.

1895
Carnegie establishes the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh, with the purpose of celebrating art, science, music and literature.

1897
A daughter, Margaret, is born to Andrew and Louise.
At Louise Carnegie's request, Andrew searches for a home in Scotland. His only requirements for the new estate are that it include a view of the sea, a waterfall and a trout stream. He settles for Skibo Castle, which is in ruins for 85,000 pounds.

1898
Carnegie tries to gain independence for the Philippines. Following the Spanish-American War, the United States captures the Philippines from Spain. The US decides to pay Spain $20 million to purchase the islands. Carnegie sees this move as imperialist and offers the islands $20 million to purchase their independence. Carnegie decides to expand his business into the production of finished products, which will compete directly with some of J.P. Morgan's interests. Morgan believes Carnegie has become too much of a threat to his empire and must be bought out entirely.

1899
Carnegie organizes several of his steel companies into Carnegie Steel.
Carnegie Steel's annual profit is $40 million.

1900
Carnegie establishes Techical schools , which evolved into Carnegie Mellon Univeristy.

1901
Carnegie sells out to J.P. Morgan for $480 million, a move which allows Morgan to create US Steel, and makes Carnegie the richest man in the world. Carnegie establishes the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland.

1902
Carnegie creates the Carnegie Institution of Washington, a national scientific
research institution that would be a resource for all universities.

1903
Carnegie Dunfermline Trust is established in Dunfermline, Scotland to benefit
the residents of Carnegieís birthplace.

1904
Carnegie establishes the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission to give medals and money to those who are injured in an attempt to "preserve and rescue their fellows."

1905
Carnegie Teachers' Pension Fund is established with an endowment of $10
million.

1910
Carnegie establishes the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in
Washington, D.C.

1911
Carnegie Corporation of New York is founded.
Carnegie establishes the Carnegie Corporation of New York with his remaining money, about $150 million. He intends that the corporation will promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding by aiding college, university, technical school and general scientific research. This is the last philanthropic trust Carnegie creates.

1913
The Temple of Peace in The Hague, financed by Carnegie, has its grand
opening. Carnegie United Kindgom Trust is created.

1914
World War I begins.
As World War I breaks out, Carnegie leaves Scotland for the last time.
Carnegie establishes the Church Peace Union in New York City. It is renamed the Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs in 1986.

1916
Carnegie buys Shadowbrook, an estate in Massachusetts.

1919
Carnegie dies at Shadowbrook.
Carnegie's gravestone is made of stone taken from Skibo. It reads: Andrew Carnegie Born in Dunfermline, Scotland, 25 November 1835. Died in Lenox, Massachusetts, 11 August 1919.