143 Andrew Carnegie Facts You Should Know About The Philanthropist

Andrew Carnegie was born in the year 1835 and was a very wealthy industrialist in his time.

Andrew Carnegie had Scottish roots, although he was an American born that led the diversification of the steel industry in America during the late 19th century. He was also known to be a very significant philanthropist of his era.

If you are a resident of the States or have been to New York many times, then we are sure you might have come across the name Andrew Carnegie quite a few times on any building or town hall.

Well, Andrew Carnegie was one of the most decorated people in the US and was called the Steel magnate of the States.

However, Carnegie is far popular as a philanthropist who built up a fortune from scratch and later gave it all to the needy and poor.

Millions have benefited from Andrew's generosity and charitable actions. A lot went behind making such a successful yet humble and grounded man. What made Andrew Carnegie the person he was? How was his childhood?

What were his business and philanthropic endeavors? The answers to all these and much more about Andrew Carnegie in this article. So don't stop here and continue reading until the end as we assure you of some never before heard facts and stories!

Are you curious about other famous personalities as well? Then we have got you covered! Check our other similar articles on Andres Bonifacio facts and Andreas Vesalius facts here at Kidadl.

Fun Facts About Andrew Carnegie

Andrew Carnegie was one of America's eminent industrialists that transformed the American economy but did you know that he had actually emigrated to the US? He came in 1948 with his parents and began working as a telegrapher.

Soon Andrew Carnegie began investing in bridges, oil derricks, and railroads. Andrew Carnegie in Pittsburgh built the Carnegie steel company, but later, Carnegie sold it at $480 million.

The steel business then came to be known as the US Steel Company.

Post the sale of the Steel company, Andrew Carnegie spent the rest of his life on philanthropy. The philanthropy was mainly targeted towards education, scientific research, local libraries, and world peace.

Andrew Carnegie wrote the article The Gospel of Wealth which implies how the wealthy sections of society should contribute their wealth to uplift the less fortunate and inspire philanthropy.

Andrew Carnegie and his fortune built most of the prominent landmarks of America and New York City, such as the Peace Palace, Carnegie Mellon University, New York's Carnegie Hall, and Carnegie Museums of Pittsburg.

Did you know that during the start of the Civil War, Andrew Carnegie held the post of superintendent of the military railways? This position instilled in him the value of iron, iron products and how they could be the key to any economy.

Andrew Carnegie wrote several books such as Andrew Carnegie's own story, An American Four-In-Hand In Britain, and Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie.

You'd be shocked to know Andrew Carnegie's total wealth! The distributions of his wealth amounted to $350,000,000, out of which about $62,000,000 went to various charities, trusts, and benefactions in Britain and about $288,000,000 to the benefactions in the United States.

Andrew Carnegie also had several literary ambitions that he fulfilled. He befriended Herbert Spencer, the English philosopher Mark Twain (the American humorist), and the English poet Matthew Arnold.

Carnegie also increased his connections and correspondence with several notable US dignitaries, writers, statesmen, and presidents. Carnegie also constructed many swimming baths in Dunfermline, his hometown, in 1879.

In the same year, Carnegie donated 8,000 pounds to build the Dunfermline Carnegie Library in Scotland. He also gave $50,000 to construct the New York University Medical Canter (previously known as Bellevue Hospital Medical College) to form a histological laboratory, which now is known by the name Carnegie Laboratory.

Facts About Andrew Carnegie's Businesses

Andrew Carnegie was widely known for establishing the steel company, which was also called the United Steel Corporation. This was a first in American history where its market capitalization was over $1 billion!

And this was a might amount back in its day. There are more interesting facts about Andrew Carnegie Steel Company and his other business endeavors, and let's look at some of them here.

Andrew Carnegie invested in the Columbia Oil Company in 1864 in Venango County, Pennsylvania.

This was a great business move as in a year, the farm got good quality and profitable petroleum from an oil well and $1,000,000 worth of cash dividends.

As Pittsburgh was a booming capital for iron and wartime products, its allied products like cannons, armor for gunboats, shells, and several other industrial products, Carnegie looked up the opportunity and worked to establish a steel rolling mill.

Carnegie even started a full-fledged steel plant in 1892 that gave him significant control of the iron industry, and this became a major source of Andrew Carnegie's fortune.

Although Carnegie had some investments in steel before the war, the steel company added significantly to his personal fortune.

Carnegie steel was popular throughout the United States of America as it was one of the most extensively integrated iron. All this was single-handedly controlled by just one individual, Andrew Carnegie.

In the steel industry, Carnegie Steel Company had two great innovations that resulted in the mass production of efficient and cheap steel. This was done by operating through the Bessemer process that allowed pig iron's high carbon content to be burnt in a controlled fashion and rapidly during steel production.

This way, steel became cheap and Bessemer process popular. This process was used a lot for rail production but did not suit well for bridges and buildings.

Strange as it may seem, Andrew Carnegie, treated his employees unfairly despite being a man who staunchly believed in labor unions. Carnegie also fought for their rights, but his own workers lay in poor conditions and worked 12 hours a day!

His employees never even got a day's leave.

All this seemed a little ironic for a man who favored the labor force and their rights. Soon many labor unions started rioting against Andrew Carnegie, demanding better pay and working environment, but as time passed, eventually Andrew Carnegie acknowledged their demands and started caring more for his employees.

Facts About Andrew Carnegie's Philanthropy

Andrew Carnegie seems like the quintessential poster boy of the American dream, an immigrant from Scotland who makes it big in America. But Andrew Carnegie was not just known for his successful ventures; he was also known for his generous donations, charities, and other philanthropic works. Let's see the highlights of his philanthropic life.

Andre Carnegie was the founder of Carnegie Institution for Science, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Carnegie Hero Fund, Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland, and Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Andrew Carnegie established a trust for the Universities of Scotland in 1901 with $10 million as the starting amount.

Another significant philanthropic work was when Andre Carnegie established pension schemes for college professors in 1905 and started a separate pension fund for homestead employees in 1901. The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in 1903 was founded to abolish the international war, and Andrew Carnegie worked tirelessly for this cause until the outbreak of World War I.

In August 1919, two months after signing the Treaty of Versailles, Andrew Carnegie was left heartbroken by the failure of his efforts.

The Carnegie Foundation for Advancement of Teaching (CFAT) was established in New York as an American research center for education. This foundation was known earlier by the name Carnegie Foundation, was actually a gift worth $10 million by Andrew Carnegie to New York.

Under Henry S. Pritchett, the first president of the foundation who had also worked in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the foundation started with its mission of providing pensions to college teachers that were retired.

As the foundation was mainly focused on providing educational reforms, it got itself renamed to Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching (CFAT). Henry S. Pritchett served as the foundation's president from 1906 to 1930.

Facts About Andrew Carnegie's Childhood

Most of the time, great success is backed by a great struggle, and so was the case with Andrew Carnegie. Having lived an uncertain, unpredictable, and most challenging childhood, Andrew Carnegie shifted to the United States of America. Let's gather some facts about this great man's childhood and ponder upon some of his struggles as a teenager.

Andrew Carnegie was born in Dunfermline, Scotland. Carnegie had a hard childhood, as the town in which he lived suffered losses due to industrialization.

The production of fine linen, which involved home-based weaving, had become obsolete due to the onslaught of industrialization. Workers such as Andrew Carnegie's father was left jobless and had no other alternative to support their families.

A movement called the Chartist movement to improve these workers' conditions was launched that involved even Carnegie's grandfather Thomas Morrison, a political reformer and shoemaker who joined in. The movement had no future, and in the end, Andrew Carnegie's family had to relocate with their belongings and family to America.

Andrew Carnegie was only 13 then. After relocating from Scotland, at the age of 13, Carnegie started working full-time at a cotton mill and earned $1.20 per week.

Growing up in this environment, Andrew Carnegie lacked having a formal education. After a year, Carnegie was hired at a local telegraph company where he self-taught himself how to operate those machines.

As Andrew Carnegie did not have a proper standard education background, upon shifting to the States in 1848, Carnegie began educating himself the American way through writing and reading by attending a night school in Allegheny, Pennsylvania. Eventually, Andrew Carnegie landed himself a job at the railway station.

But all of this is possible because Carnegie was not just hard-working but also an avid reader. Books provided Carnegie with all the invaluable knowledge and education that he had missed out on throughout his youth.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for 143 Andrew Carnegie facts you should know about the philanthropist, then why not take a look at Alex Haley facts or Andre Derain facts.