Cornelius Vanderbilt had in 1870 consolidated two of his key lines into the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad, one of the first giant corporations in American history.
In 1869, he had directed the Harlem to begin construction of the Grand Central Depot on 42nd Street in Manhattan.
Finished in 1871, it serves as his lines' terminus in New York.
He has sunk the tracks on 4th Avenue in a cut that will later become a tunnel, and 4th Avenue has become Park Avenue.
He also donates to churches around New York, including a gift to the Moravian Church on Staten Island of eight and a half acres (thirty-four thousand square meters) for a cemetery in which he will eventually be buried.
Vanderbilt had relinquished his presidency of the Stonington Railroad during the California gold rush, but during the 1850s had taken an interest in several railroads , serving on the boards of directors of the Erie Railway, the Central Railroad of New Jersey, the Hartford and New Haven, and the New York and Harlem (popularly known as the Harlem).
In 1863, Vanderbilt had taken control of the Harlem in a famous stockmarket corner, and had been elected its president.
He will later explain that he had wanted to show that he could take this railroad, which was generally considered worthless, and make it valuable.
It has a key advantage: it is the only steam railroad to enter the center of Manhattan, running down 4th Avenue (later Park Avenue) to a station on 26th Street, where it connects with a horse-drawn streetcar line.
From Manhattan it runs up to Chatham Four Corners, in upstate New York, where it has a connection to the railroads running east and west.
Vanderbilt had brought his son William Henry Vanderbilt in as vice-president of the Harlem.
William had had a nervous breakdown early in life, and his father had sent him to a farm on Staten Island.
But he proves himself a good businessman, and had eventually becomes the head of the Staten Island Railway in 1862.
Though the Commodore had once scorned him, he is impressed by William's success, and will eventually make him operational manager of all his railroad lines.
In 1864, the Commodore had sold his last ships, concentrating on railroads.
Once in charge of the Harlem, Vanderbilt had encountered conflicts with connecting lines.
In each case, the strife had ended in a battle that Vanderbilt won.
He bought control of the Hudson River Railroad in 1864, the New York Central Railroad in 1867, and the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway in 1869.
He later bought the Canada Southern as well.
