Life
Born in New York City, the third son of Cornelius Vanderbilt II (1843–1899) and Alice Claypoole Gwynne (1845–1934), Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt was educated at St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire, and at Yale University (Class of 1899), where he was a member of Skull and Bones.
Soon after graduation, Vanderbilt, with a party of friends, started on a tour of the world which was to have lasted two years. When they reached Japan on 12 September 1899, he received news of the sudden death of his father, and hastened home as speedily as possible to find himself, by his father's will, the head of his branch of the family. His siblings included Alice Gwynne Vanderbilt (1869-1874), William Henry Vanderbilt II (1870–1892), Cornelius Vanderbilt III (1873–1942), Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–1942), Reginald Claypoole Vanderbilt (1880–1925) and Gladys Vanderbilt, Countess Széchenyi (1886–1965). His eldest brother, William, had died in 1892 at the age of 22 and their father had disinherited Cornelius III. Alfred thus received the largest share of his father's estate, though it was also divided among their sisters and youngest son.
Soon after his return to New York, Vanderbilt began working as a clerk in the offices of the New York Central Railroad, as preparation for entering into the councils of the company as one of its principal owners. Subsequently, he was chosen a director in other companies as well, among them the Fulton Chain Railway Company, Fulton Navigation Company, Raquette Lake Railway Company, Raquette Lake Transportation Company, and the Plaza Bank of New York. Vanderbilt was a good judge of real estate values and projected several important enterprises. On the site of the former residence of the Vanderbilt family, and including, also, several adjacent plots, he built the Vanderbilt Hotel at Park Avenue and 34th Street, New York, which he made his city home.
Among Alfred Vanderbilt's many holdings were positions in the New York Central Railroad, Beech Creek Railroad, Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway, Michigan Central Railroad and Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad as well as the Pullman Company.
Read more about this topic: Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt I
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