March 12 in 1901 a man by the name of Andrew Carnegie, who was one of the world’s most well known industrialists, offered the city of New York 5.2 million dollars to build sixty-five different branch libraries. This immigrant’s fortune eventually would develop many more libraries and charitable foundations. He was born in 1835 and immigrated to the United States with his parents in 1848. Working in the American industry and making many investments, he developed a huge fortune before the age of thirty. In the early 1870s, he noticed potential in the steel industry and started J. Edgar Thomson Steel Works. This eventually became the Carnegie Steel Company. The company took off in 1901. He then sold it to financier JP Morgan for about 480 million dollars. He walked away with 250 million in his pocket and retired. He began writing and studying philanthropy. Carnegie believed that any earned wealth should be distributed throughout the public. Carnegie sis the founder of 2,509 libraries in the USA. He also established several trusts and was the co-founder of Carnegie Mellon University. Carnegie past away in 1919 and it is recorded that he had given away over 350 million dollars. Carenegie Hall in New York is one of the most well known music halls in all of the world. Some of the most talented musicians have played in this hall and some of them still go back to perform there. Carnegie was one of the most generous men to have immigrated to the USA.
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echoromeoindiacharlie said,
March 26, 2008 @ 8:36 pm
Your right…Andrew Carnegie was the perfect example of a philanthropist. It is unfortunate that many of the other robberbarons werent as generous as him we might be living in a much more educated and understanding world…