CAPTAIN OF INDUSTRY

1853
Andrew takes job at Pennsylvania Railroad.
Andrew becomes the personal telegrapher and assistant to Thomas Scott, the superintendent of the Pennsylvania Railroad's western division, and is paid $35 per month.

1859
Carnegie promoted to superintendent.
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.

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

1865
Carnegie retires from the railroad. Carnegie founds the Keystone Bridge Company.
Carnegie and several associates reorganize the Piper and Schiffler Company into the Keystone Bridge Company. They envision building bridges with iron, rather than wood, to make the bridges more durable. Tom 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 pledges to resign from business.
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
Carnegie sees Bessemer's steel plants.
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.

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

"No person and no community can be permanently helped except by their own cooperation."

-Andrew Carnegie

1886
Carnegie defends unions.
In Forum Magazine, Carnegie publishes an essay 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. In order to keep Margaret Carnegie's death a secret from her son, her coffin is lowered out of her bedroom window.

-Andrew Carnegie, "Wealth," North American Review, June 1889

1887
Carnegie marries Louise Whitfield, daughter of a wealthy merchant.

1889
Carnegie publishes "The Gospel of Wealth," arguing that the wealthy have a moral obligation to serve as stewards for society. By the next year, Carnegie's annual take-home pay is $25 million.

1897
Margaret Carnegie is born. 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 and does not have a waterfall, for 85,000 pounds.

Marriage and  The Gospel of Wealth

" This then is held to be the duty of the man of wealth: first, to set an example of unostentatious living, shunning display, to provide moderately for the legitimate wants of those dependent upon him; and, after doing so, to consider all surplus revenues which come to him simply as trust funds which he is strictly bound as a matter of duty to administer in the manner which, in his judgment, is best calculated to produce the most beneficial results for the community."

-Andrew Carnegie

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 produce finished products.
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.

1900                                                                Carnegie Steel's annual profit is $40 million. Carnegie Institute of Technology established.

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

RICHEST MAN IN THE WORLD

"Congratulations, Mr. Carnegie, you are now the richest man in the world."

-JP Morgan to Carnegie after they finalized the deal

1902
Carnegie Institution established.
Carnegie founds the Carnegie Institution to provide research for American colleges and universities.

1905
Carnegie Teachers' Pension Fund is established.
Carnegie endows the fund with $10,000,000.

1910
Carnegie donates money to advance the cause of peace.
Carnegie establishes the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and builds the Central American Court of Justice in Costa Rica, which is destroyed by an earthquake later that year.

1911
Carnegie Corporation is founded.
Carnegie establishes the Carnegie Corporation with his remaining money, about $125,000,000. He intends that the corporation will aid colleges, universities, technical schools, and scientific research. This is the last philanthropic trust Carnegie creates-- in all, he has given away 90% of his fortune.

“ The man who dies rich, dies disgraced. ”

-Andrew Carnegie

THE TRUE PHILANTHROPIST

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. By the time he died he had given away $350,695,653, and the last $30,000,000 was given away to various charities after his death.

1913
The Palace of Peace is dedicated.
The Palace, or Temple, of Peace in the Hague, which was financed by Carnegie, has its grand opening.

1914
World War I begins.
As World War I breaks out, Carnegie leaves Scotland for the last time.

LEAVING SCOTLAND

Death calls ANDREW CARNEGIE

The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Illinois
August 16, 1919

Andrew Carnegie saying farewell to Pittsburgh. Mr. Carnegie and Louise Carnegie, his wife, leaving East Liberty Station in 1914 on last visit to the city.