Cornelius Vanderbilt

Vanderbilt, Cornelius (1794–1877), U.S. transportation mogul. Known as Commodore, he began with a ferry service that grew into an international steamship business. In the 1860s, he purchased a number of small eastern railroads. His group dominated the Northeast by the 1870s and controlled the New York-Chicago route. He established Vanderbilt University at Nashville, Tenn.