New York in the Gilded Age - 1865-1901 Online Quiz | History

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. After the Civil War, the U.S. experienced a massive expansion in industry and transportation, bringing great wealth to major cities, such as New York. Who first designated this era the 'Gilded Age'?

Answer: Mark Twain

In 1873 Mark Twain, together with Charles Dudley Warner wrote a satirical novel- 'The Gilded Age, A Tale of Today'. It basically poked fun at everyone and everything - robber barons, industrial growth, the rise of the labor unions, and the emergence of a very conspicuously opulent New York 'high society'.

2. This was an age of technical expansion on a level never seen before. US inventions and innovation in applied technology placed the US ahead of the rest of the World. Who was one of first of this new breed of industrialists, who would use their wealth to build extravagant Fifth Avenue mansions, and was a leading light in this new 'high society'?

Answer: Cornelius Vanderbilt

'Commodore' Cornelius Vanderbilt, as he enjoyed being called, started life as a poor farm boy on Staten Island. He was renownwed for his sharp wit and ruthless businesss practices, which allowed him to build a fortune in shipping and railroads. The Vanderbilts became famous down the generations in New York society, for both making and spending vast sums of money.

3. Like many of New York's 'high society' during the Gilded Age, John Jacob Astor IV had come from humbler beginnings. He was famous for his incredible wealth and 'going down with the ship' when the Titanic sank on April 15th, 1912. How had his great-grandfather originally made their fortune?

Answer: Opium and the fur trade

Despite his great-grandfather's dubious beginnings, John Jacob IV held many patents, helping to develop a turbine engine. Before his watery demise he made millions in real estate in New York, owning the lavish Astoria Hotel. His cousin William Waldorf Astor owned the Waldof hotel next door. The complex became the Waldorf-Astoria.

4. New York Society became defined and controlled in a highly artificial manner, by two doyens of the elite - Caroline Webster Schmerhorn Astor ('The' Mrs Astor) and Alva Vandebilt. What did they contrive to be the correct number of invitations sent for any occasion, and therefore the only socially acceptable people in New York?

Answer: 400

Mrs Astor's 400 was supposedly based on the number of people that could be seated to dine in her ballroom. This was not quite true, and there were occasions when as many as many as 1,000 invitations were sent out.

The '400' balls were massive affairs, with a disciplined group doing quadrilles and the like. The society that they attempted to create was a microcosm of how a real aristocracy functions. It was all eventually shown to be absurd, that the 'Society' was barely a generation removed from rough German fur trappers or dutch boatmen. They encouraged hauteur and rudeness in the young, and were quite obviously racist and antisemitic.

5. Of all of the so-called 'robber barons', who was considered one of the most philanthropic, especially for New York?

Answer: Andrew Carnegie

Andrew Carnegie came from a poor Scottish family. He started work on the railroads and learned enough to erect his first blast furnace in 1870. He made his wealth in steel, and gave away most of it in large philanthropic enterprises. Apart from the very famous Carnegie Hall, he created the Carnegie Institute of Technology and built hundreds of public libraries.

6. Who was regarded as 'The most powerful American banker of his time, helped build a credit bridge between Europe and America, and financially rescued the US government twice'?

Answer: J P Morgan

Born in Hertford, Conneticut, J P Morgan joined the banking world after two years of university in Germany. Early in his banking career he lent money to reorganize the railroad system.

In 1893, when there was a major downturn in the economy, Morgan and his company stepped in and guaranteed the gold reserves. He was a brilliant banker and financial wizard. He founded U.S. Steel in 1901.

He was also an avid art collector, and his hand-picked contributions made the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York the treasure that it is today.

7. Not satisfied with highly conspicuous spending and one mansion larger than the next, New York's social elite set their sights on a place to summer, away from the heat of the city. They built their 'cottages' there. Where might that be?

Answer: Newport, RI

Newport, Rhode Island became the home away from home for fashionable and rich New Yorkers. Their 'cottages', as they called their mansions, were even more massive than their New York abodes. Not only could they outdo each other with houses, but now we were to see bigger and better yachts.

Alva Vanderbilt had constructed the most expensive house that Newport had seen. A marble replica of 'Le Petit Trianon' in France. Everyone was aghast at the extravagance, even for Newport. $2 million had been spent on construction and another $11 million on interior decoration.

8. If you saw the movie 'Gangs of New York", you will know how the poor lived in New York. Who was the reformer who studied tenement life, drawing attention to the plight of so many?

Answer: Jacob Riis

Jacob Riis studied tenement life in 1890, writing his famous work - "How the Other Half Lives: Studies Among the Tenements of New York". Riis immigrated to New York from Denmark in 1870. Though very poor himself, he found work as a police reporter, gradually joining the reform movement.

Riis' written works were instrumental in documenting the atrocious conditions that the poor had to suffer.

9. Who was the all-American writer who has brought us stories of the street and the lives of the poor and disenfranchised of New York?

Answer: Horatio Alger

Horatio Alger, a former Unitarian Minister from Massachusetts, made his way to New York City in 1866. The city was run by 'Boss' Tweed, who is reputed to have stolen millions from public funds.

There were thousands of new immigrants arriving each month, and when Alger arrived he found tens of thousands of homeless children. Many others lived in hastily constructed tenements without any of the minimum standards of safety or hygiene.

Alger decided that he would write what he had seen in story form. The first New York City Novel was "Ragged Dick". In this way he exposed the ugly facts to not only other New Yorkers, but all over the US.

10. William Marcy Tweed had been running a corrupt City Hall for far too long. Everyone was bribable, and no-one got in his way. In 1871 the "New York Times" published enough evidence of misuse of public funds to have Tweed indicted. What became of Tweed?

Answer: He escaped to Spain

To elude arrest, Tweed escaped to Spain. However, he was recognized, thanks to the many political cartoons that had appeared in the "New York Times" He was arrested in Spain and extradited to the US. He was convicted in 1872, and died in jail.

Source: Author Englizzie

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor bloomsby before going online.
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New York in the Gilded Age - 1865-1901 Quiz

There are 8 Million Stories in the Naked City, etc.

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