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Historical Period
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Railroads, immigration, big business, and the age of reform.

Use the timeline below to navigate through major events and milestones.

Gilded Age & Progressive Era · 1869-1914
Industry & Reform · 1869-1914

The Gilded Age & Progressive Era

From the transcontinental railroad and the steel and oil empires of Rockefeller and Carnegie, through waves of immigration and the close of the frontier, to an overseas empire and the Progressive drive to tame industrial capitalism. Slide across the years to watch the United States remake itself into a world power.

1869 AD
The Iron Road
1 / 9

The Transcontinental Railroad

The joining of the rails at Promontory Summit links the coasts, binding the nation together and accelerating settlement of the West — often at Native peoples' expense.

1869 AD

The Iron Road
  • Cultural

    The Transcontinental Railroad

    The joining of the rails at Promontory Summit links the coasts, binding the nation together and accelerating settlement of the West — often at Native peoples' expense.

9 milestones

Meanwhile

Around 1869 AD

Full Chronicle

The Gilded Age & Progressive Era

From the transcontinental railroad and the steel and oil empires of Rockefeller and Carnegie, through waves of immigration and the close of the frontier, to an overseas empire and the Progressive drive to tame industrial capitalism. Slide across the years to watch the United States remake itself into a world power.

  1. The Iron Road

    • The Transcontinental Railroad

      The joining of the rails at Promontory Summit links the coasts, binding the nation together and accelerating settlement of the West — often at Native peoples' expense.

  2. Captains of Industry

    • Rockefeller, Carnegie, and big business

      Industrialists like John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie build vast oil and steel empires, amassing enormous fortunes as trusts come to dominate the economy.

  3. Labor Rises

    • The Haymarket affair and organized labor

      As workers demand the eight-hour day, a bombing at Chicago's Haymarket Square sets back the labor movement even as unions like the American Federation of Labor grow.

  4. The Closing Frontier

    • Wounded Knee and the end of the frontier

      The massacre at Wounded Knee marks the tragic close of the Indian Wars; the census declares the frontier settled, ending an era of continental expansion.

  5. The Golden Door

    • Ellis Island and mass immigration

      Ellis Island opens as millions of immigrants from southern and eastern Europe arrive, transforming American cities and industry and reshaping the nation's identity.

  6. An Overseas Empire

    • The Spanish-American War

      Victory over Spain gives the United States Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines, launching the country as an imperial power on the world stage.

  7. The Progressive Era

    • Theodore Roosevelt and reform

      President Theodore Roosevelt battles the trusts, champions conservation, and pushes consumer protections, embodying the Progressive drive to tame industrial capitalism.

  8. An Age of Invention

    • The Wright brothers take flight

      At Kitty Hawk the Wright brothers achieve the first powered flight; within a generation the automobile and the airplane will remake daily life and industry.

  9. Reforming the System

    • Income tax and the Federal Reserve

      The Sixteenth Amendment creates a federal income tax and the Federal Reserve is founded, reshaping the government's role in the economy on the eve of world war.