November 25
RAGS TO RICHES DAY
Philanthropist and industrialist Andrew Carnegie was born on this day in 1835. He left his native Scotland, and the town of Dunfermline, with his almost penniless family, ending up in southwestern Pennsylvania at the age of 13. It was there that he worked his way up from telegraph messenger boy to division manager of the Pennsylvania Railroad, eventually making his fortune in railroads and steel. He was the founder of Carnegie Steel Corporation, one of the greatest industrial enterprises in the United States. In 1901 he sold it to the U.S. Steel Corporation in Pittsburgh. After selling out to J.P. Morgan for $400 million, Andrew Carnegie (pronounced kar-nay’-ge in SW Pennsylvania) devoted the rest of his life to giving his fortune away.
The author of several influential essays, he wrote: “Surplus wealth is a sacred trust which its possessor is bound to administer in his lifetime for the good of the community. ... The man who dies ... rich dies disgraced.”
Carnegie, who died at Shadowbrook, his summer estate in Massachusetts on August 11, 1919, disbursed about $308 million before he died. Among the beneficiaries of his generosity were 2,509 public libraries, the Carnegie Foundation, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Carnegie Institution of Washington, the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission, the Carnegie Corporation of New York and Carnegie Hall in New York City ... founded in 1891 and still a mecca for musicians the world over. Carnegie-Mellon University (formerly Carnegie Institute of Technology, founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1900), and the Andrew Carnegie Library, both in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh, PA, also still bear his name.
One of the most remarkable immigrants to America, Andrew Carnegie entered the U.S. a poor boy, became one of the richest men in the world, then gave away most of his wealth for the betterment of mankind.
Those Were the Days, the Today in History service from 440 International
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