J.P. Morgan
John Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) began his career in 1857 as an accountant,
and worked for several New York banking firms until he became a partner in
Drexel, Morgan and Company in 1871, which was reorganized as J.P. Morgan and
Company in 1895. Described as a coldly rational man, Morgan began reorganizing
railroads in 1885, becoming a board member and gaining control of large amounts
of stock of many of the rail companies he helped restructure. In 1896, Morgan
embarked on consolidations in the electric, steel (creating U.S. Steel, the
world's first billion-dollar corporation, in 1901), and agricultural equipment
manufacturing industries. By the early 1900s, Morgan was the main force behind
the Trusts, controlling virtually all the basic American industries. He then
looked to the financial and insurance industries, in which his banking firm
also achieved a concentration of control. Morgan was also among the foremost
collectors of art and books of his day; his book collection and the building
that housed it in New York City are now The Pierpont Morgan Library.
