by Gary Hoover | Jan 14, 2022 | Articles, Articles, Biographies, Consumer Products, Newsletters, Other Industries
Isaac Merritt Singer (1811-1875) had a dream: to become a great actor on the stage, performing Shakespeare to accolades. For almost the first forty years of his life, he failed to achieve any success in this pursuit. Continually tinkering with machines, he...
by Gary Hoover | Nov 25, 2021 | Articles, Biographies, Newsletters, Transportation
Sandor Herz was born in or near Vrutky, Austria-Hungary (now Slovakia) on April 10, 1879, the oldest of the six children of Jakob and Katie Herz. When he was three years old, the family emigrated to America, and by 1884, at the age of five, young Sandor (now...
by Gary Hoover | Nov 4, 2021 | Articles, Biographies, Newsletters, Transportation
This article first appeared in the Archbridge Institute’s American Originals Series. Many management scholars consider Alfred P. Sloan, Jr. as the greatest business leader in American history. If we exclude company founders, Sloan has few...
by Gary Hoover | Jul 9, 2021 | Articles, Articles, Biographies, Retailing, Technology
In our article on the three greatest companies in American history, we listed both General Motors and IBM. Neither of those companies would have been the great successes they were without the contributions of proteges of John Henry Patterson, though he did not...
by Gary Hoover | Jun 13, 2021 | Articles, Articles, Biographies, Books, Business in General, Newsletters
July 9 is the deadline for our high school essay contest, with $7500 in prizes, including $3000 for the best essay. PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD! …. and, by the way, this is the 100th issue of our free weekly newsletter! Today we recommend two books for our fellow...
by Gary Hoover | May 26, 2021 | Articles, Biographies, Media & Entertainment, Newsletters
This article first appeared in the Archbridge Institute’s American Originals Series. Ahmet Ertegun did as much as anyone to shape the popular music that serves as the soundtrack for our daily lives. As the founder and leader of Atlantic Records for almost sixty years,...
by Gary Hoover | Mar 12, 2021 | Biographies, Newsletters
Friends of Business History, I have been doing a lot of podcasts and interviews recently. I always make plenty of historical references. But when they are primarily about the present and future, I put them up on my other website, https://hooversworld.com/ and...
by Gary Hoover | Feb 26, 2021 | Articles, Articles, Articles, Biographies, Business in General, Newsletters, Other Industries, Technology
We are all familiar with the visionary entrepreneur Charles R. Schwab who pioneered the discount stock brokerage industry in the 1970s. But almost no one remembers the unrelated Charles M. Schwab, one of the most important business leaders in American history....
by Gary Hoover | Jan 21, 2021 | Articles, Biographies, Transportation
Written before we founded the American Business History Center, this post is more relevant than ever. In 1937, 24-year old Malcolm McLean (later changed to Malcom) delivered a load from the south to the New Jersey docks for export. He had been in the trucking business...
by Gary Hoover | Jan 14, 2021 | Articles, Articles, Biographies, Finance, Newsletters, Other Industries
This article was first published on the Archbridge Institute website. Few business leaders or entrepreneurs in American history have done more to enable progress and prosperity than Samuel Insull, a name little known today. Yet eighty years ago, he was one of the most...
by Gary Hoover | Dec 18, 2020 | Articles, Articles, Biographies, Newsletters, Other Industries, Transportation
Every state has a fascinating history, including the role of business and entrepreneurship. The swamp that was much of Florida did not develop until the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Two men, both named Henry, were perhaps the most important in that...
by Gary Hoover | Aug 13, 2020 | Articles, Biographies, Media & Entertainment, Newsletters
This article first appeared in the Archbridge Institute’s American Originals Series. Preface: A Most Controversial Man In this story, we address the life and work of Walter Elias Disney, one of the most famous men in the world. Telling this story brings...
by Dave Stanwick | Jul 9, 2020 | Articles, Biographies, Consumer Products, Newsletters
This article first appeared in the Archbridge Institute’s American Originals Series. Born in rural Pennsylvania in 1857, Milton Hershey attended seven different schools and never made it beyond the fourth grade. At fifteen, he found his passion in a...
by Gary Hoover | Jun 11, 2020 | Articles, Biographies, Newsletters, Transportation
This article first appeared in the Archbridge Institute’s American Originals Series. The year 1921 was one of the worst years in the history of the American automobile business. Many companies folded in a brief but severe post-war recession as prices dropped...
by Gary Hoover | May 29, 2020 | Articles, Biographies, Newsletters, Transportation
This week we present another very brief “bullet point biography.” A classic story of shattered dreams. At the American Business History Center, we focus our energies on those companies (and their founders and leaders) which became household names or large...
by Gary Hoover | Apr 24, 2020 | Articles, Articles, Biographies, Media & Entertainment, Newsletters, Transportation
Over the last two years or so, we in conjunction with the Archbridge Institute have produced a series of “long-form” biographies of great entrepreneurs. Each of these runs five to seven thousand words and takes twenty to thirty minutes to read. In this...
by Gary Hoover | Apr 9, 2020 | Articles, Biographies, Business in General, Newsletters
This article first appeared in the Archbridge Institute’s American Originals Series. Over the last two-and-one-half years, we at the American Business History Center, in conjunction with the Archbridge Institute, have written and published...
by Gary Hoover | Mar 5, 2020 | Articles, Biographies, Media & Entertainment, Newsletters
This article first appeared in the Archbridge Institute’s American Originals Series. On February 11, 1898, John Charles Smith of Toronto hit his head and died of a cerebral hemorrhage. The Irishman left behind his wife, Charlotte; five-year-old...
by Gary Hoover | Feb 6, 2020 | Articles, Biographies, Newsletters, Transportation
This article first appeared in the Archbridge Institute’s American Originals Series. Few industries have had a greater impact on the world than our airline system. This global network was built over a period of forty years by a handful of leaders who...
by Gary Hoover | Jan 31, 2020 | Articles, Biographies, Media & Entertainment, Newsletters
Fox News and the Fox Network have become part of the daily lives of millions. Yet few know where the name “Fox” came from, other than the historic Twentieth Century-Fox Studios. That movie-making part of the Fox empire was recently sold by Rupert Murdoch...
by Gary Hoover | Nov 7, 2019 | Articles, Articles, Articles, Biographies, Consumer Products, Newsletters, Other Industries
This article first appeared in the Archbridge Institute’s American Originals Series. Outside of the field of product and transportation design, too few people know who Raymond Loewy was. The best-known industrial designer, founder of the industrial...
by Gary Hoover | Oct 9, 2019 | Articles, Biographies, Consumer Products, Newsletters
This article first appeared in the Archbridge Institute’s American Original Series. Born in upstate New York in 1801, Gail Borden was raised there and in Kentucky and Indiana. As a young man, he moved to Mississippi and then Texas in search of...
by Gary Hoover | Sep 12, 2019 | Articles, Articles, Articles, Articles, Biographies, Business in General, Foodservice and Lodging, Other Industries
This article first appeared on June 24, 2019 in The Archbridge Institute’s ‘American Originals’ series. Despite being often forgotten today, Henry J. Kaiser was one of the most unusual and diverse entrepreneurs in American history. Quitting school at...
by Gary Hoover | Aug 7, 2019 | Articles, Biographies, Newsletters, Transportation
This article first appeared on May 2, 2019 in The Archbridge Institute’s ‘American Originals’ series. The American railroad system played a critical role in the growth and development of the United States, especially the opening of the western frontier. The...
by Gary Hoover | Jul 25, 2019 | Articles, Biographies, Consumer Products, Share Your History
I really appreciate the history of the Indiana Glass Company provided by The Museum of Glass in West Virginia (and Tom Felt, Monograph #69) and Craig Schenning in his great book about Indiana Glass from Schiffer Publishing. As well as the folks at...
by Gary Hoover | Mar 8, 2019 | Articles, Biographies, Other Industries
Originally published on ArchbridgeInstitute.org on October 29, 2018 This article first appeared on October 29, 2018 in The Archbridge Institute’s ‘American Originals’ series. The grandson of slaves, Arthur George Gaston was born in 1892 in Demopolis, Alabama, to Rosie...
by Gary Hoover | Mar 8, 2019 | Articles, Biographies, Retailing
Originally Published on Hooversworld.com on May 22, 2018 Who would have guessed that a medium-sized retailer which never put its name on a store would evolve to become the 7th largest company in America, a place where millions of Americans shop every day? My first job...
by Gary Hoover | Feb 27, 2019 | Articles, Biographies, Technology
This article first appeared on February 27, 2019 in The Archbridge Institute’s ‘American Originals’ series. His father owned a machine shop, but young George Westinghouse had no interest in doing what he was told. Obsessed with his own inventions and ideas, George...
by Gary Hoover | Jan 2, 2019 | Articles, Biographies, Media & Entertainment
This article first appeared on January 2, 2019 in The Archbridge Institute’s ‘American Originals’ series. Along with five younger siblings, Adolph Ochs was raised in poverty in Knoxville, Tennessee, by his scholarly but financially unsuccessful father and...
by Gary Hoover | Dec 14, 2018 | Articles, Articles, Biographies, Foodservice and Lodging, Other Industries
This article first appeared on December 14, 2018 in The Archbridge Institute’s ‘American Originals’ series. One of the myths about great entrepreneurs is that they love risk and are big gamblers. In fact, they usually do everything they can to reduce risk and are...
by Gary Hoover | Sep 28, 2018 | Articles, Biographies, Retailing
This article first appeared on October 11, 2017 on Hooversworld.com. “Far greater it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered with failure…than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live...
by Gary Hoover | Sep 28, 2018 | Articles, Biographies, Transportation
This article first appeared on May 31, 2017 on Hooversworld.com. Who is the greatest active American Entrepreneur? My students usually suggest the names of the founders of the new generation of Internet companies, names that are continuously in the news. ...
by Gary Hoover | Sep 28, 2018 | Biographies, Media & Entertainment, Videos
by Gary Hoover | Aug 22, 2018 | Articles, Biographies, Retailing
This article first appeared on August 22, 2018 in The Archbridge Institute’s ‘American Originals’ series. Before there was Amazon, there was Sears, Roebuck, using the mail-order catalog where the Internet is used today. Before Walmart...
by Gary Hoover | Jul 5, 2018 | Articles, Biographies, Consumer Products
This article first appeared on July 5, 2018 in The Archbridge Institute’s ‘American Originals’ series. It’s December 1875. Thirty-one-year-old Henry John “HJ” Heinz is bedridden the entire month with deep depression. On some days, he...
by Gary Hoover | May 24, 2018 | Articles, Biographies, Transportation
This article first appeared on May 24, 2018 in The Archbridge Institute’s ‘American Originals’ series. These days the news and chatter on the Internet are filled with stories of Apple, Amazon, Google, and Facebook. In this environment,...
by Dave Stanwick | May 15, 2018 | Articles, Biographies, Transportation
This article first appeared on May 15, 2018 in The Archbridge Institute’s ‘American Originals’ series. There are stories that take tragedy to unearth. When the world bears witness to great ability, new awareness changes the narrative of...
by Gary Hoover | Apr 24, 2018 | Articles, Biographies, Foodservice and Lodging
This article first appeared on April 24, 2018 in The Archbridge Institute’s ‘American Originals’ series. Conrad Nicholson Hilton was born to wealth. His father, “Colonel” A. H. “Gus” Hilton, was the leading merchant and trader in the...
by Gary Hoover | Feb 12, 2018 | Articles, Biographies, Consumer Products
This article first appeared on February 12, 2018 in The Archbridge Institute’s ‘American Originals’ series. Today, the Estée Lauder Companies have become among the most important cosmetics companies in the world—against huge odds and...
by Gary Hoover | Jan 24, 2018 | Articles, Articles, Biographies, Consumer Products, Technology
This article first appeared on January 24, 2018 in The Archbridge Institute’s ‘American Originals’ series. The technologies of today are built upon those of the past, and the superstars of our era would be nothing without the great...
by Gary Hoover | Dec 7, 2017 | Articles, Biographies, Retailing
This article first appeared on December 7, 2017 in The Archbridge Institute’s ‘American Originals’ series. From inauspicious beginnings rose one of the great entrepreneurs in American history, a man with unusual dedication and exceptionally...
by Gary Hoover | Oct 31, 2017 | Articles, Biographies, Consumer Products
This article first appeared on October 31, 2017 in The Archbridge Institute’s ‘American Originals’ series. Her Westchester County neighborhood was the home of Vanderbilts, Morgans, and Astors. Jay Gould and John D. Rockefeller had assembled...
by Gary Hoover | Aug 14, 2017 | Articles, Biographies, Media & Entertainment
This article first appeared on August 14, 2017 in The Archbridge Institute’s ‘American Originals’ series. It was 1912. The wiry, soft-spoken, short (five-foot five-inch) immigrant with the thick Hungarian accent waited for hours to see the powerful Jeremiah...