The 1880s: Decade of Memorials, Industry and Institutions

AMERICA BY THE DECADES | National News Roundup

A Second Industrial Revolution — driven by coal, steel, manufacturing and transportation — was rapidly building the nation.

Fueled by the capital and vision of titans like John D. Rockefeller in oil, Andrew Carnegie in steel and William Henry Vanderbilt in railroads, American industry was humming. There was work to be had and fortunes to be made.

The 1880s formed the heart of what would come to be known as the “Gilded Age,” when industry spawned a social elite but also gave rise to a growing middle class, disposable income and institutions that would reshape American life for generations to come.

Society: Tainted by poverty, intolerance

Yet things weren’t all glitter and gold.

Workers in those humming factories, coal mines and steel mill