The late 19th century was known as the "Gilded Age" and the business leaders associated with that era sometimes seem to be covered with gold as well. This was a time when America and the rest of the world were changing from a system based mostly on agriculture to one based on industry. Machines, powered at first by steam and later, by gasoline, were beginning to do the work formerly handled by human beings.

Some of these captains of industry developed the machines that would help change the world. Cyrus McCormick, for example, used his experience as a farmer in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley to create a machine that could be used to harvest wheat mechanically. Early in the 19th century, it took farmers most of a twenty four hour day to harvest an acre of wheat; by the end of the century, that job took a twentieth of the time.

Thomas Edison came up with a way to illuminate the night, and a system to provide power to his electric light. Work and play were no longer limited to the daylight hours. And speaking of play, Edison came up with better ways to provide moving pictures, and to add sound to those formerly silent images.

Before George Eastman learned about photography, the whole process was extremely complicated the equipment was both fragile and bulky. After he developed a new photographic process, an inexperienced hobbyist could take a picture by just pushing a button.

But the 19th century entrepreneurs did more than invent new machines; they also invented a new way of bringing their products to the consumer. McCormick's company manufactured farm equipment with interchangeable parts, and offered buyers credit, financing and money back guarantees. Henry Ford's company offered many of the same things, and brought mass production into the mix. Washington Duke's tobacco company began advertising cigarettes and other smoking products in ways that had never been done before. Madam C.J. Walker made a fortune by bringing products to African-American females, a market others had not tried to reach.

The industrialists of the late 19th and early 20th century made lots of money, but they gave back a great deal as well. McCormick gave money to churches and seminaries. Duke gave money to churches and universities. Andrew Carnegie founded a numb er of philanthropic organizations, as well as nearly 3,000 local libraries. John D. Rockefeller started the University of Chicago. Joseph Pulitzer provided funds for a graduate school of journalism. Ford started hospitals and museums. Eastman funded a number of schools, and founded the Eastman School of Music. Their methods, and their generosity live with us still.