The 30 richest Americans of all time

Throughout American history, the great and the good who became industry giants were recognized through their achievements and disruptive ideas. They dominated their industries by undercutting their rivals in competition, and by winning with strategy. Names like Rockefeller, Carnegie, and Astor still hang prominently in street addresses, performance centers, and municipal buildings because of the indelible impact these men have had on American history and the economy.

Many of the wealthiest Americans of all time made their fortunes during a time of rapid expansion and infrastructure development in the U.S. John D. Rockefeller's oil and Andrew Carnegie's steel fueled America's voracious expansion in the second half of the 19th century. But many Americans also resent the success of the top 1 percent of earners, calling them "robber barons" and arguing that their wealth is earned by their employees.

This article reviews a list of the richest people in U.S. history, both those living and deceased, to identify the richest Americans of all time. We took the estimated net worth of those who have passed away at the time and converted it to its current equivalent in U.S. dollars. The real-time estimates are from Forbes.

The following will be a list of the 20 richest Americans of all time.

20. Michael Bloomberg (born 1942)

> Estimated net worth in 2018: $59.4 billion

>Source of wealth: Bloomberg Limited Partnership

>Birthplace: Boston, Massachusetts

Michael Bloomberg worked on Wall Street early in his career but eventually created his own information technology company to serve the financial industry. Thanks to the Bloomberg Terminal, which began in 1981 to provide traders with a computerized way to collect, analyze and share data, his company quickly became a success. Bloomberg eventually served three terms as mayor of New York City.

19. Andrew Mellon (1855-1937)

> Estimated net worth in 2018: $64.3 billion

> Source of wealth: banking

>Birthplace: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

As the son of wealthy banker Thomas Mellon, Andrew Mellon eventually took over his bank. The younger Mellon proved to have a keen eye for identifying emerging technologies. He helped establish Alcoa and Gulf Oil. He went on to serve as U.S. Treasury Secretary for more than a decade.

18. Larry Ellison (born 1944)

> Estimated net worth in 2018: $65.3 billion

>Source of wealth: Oracle

>Birthplace: New York City, New York

Larry Ellison founded Oracle Software in 1977. The company made a breakthrough in 1981 when IBM chose to use Oracle's database management system. oracle is now one of the world's largest software companies.

17. Mark Zuckerberg (born in 1984)

> Estimated net worth in 2018: $66 billion

> Source of wealth: Facebook

>Birthplace: White Plains, New York

Mark Zuckerberg's rise to prominence is well known. While at Harvard, he founded the social media giant Facebook. despite the company's recent problems with data security, Zuckerberg is still the richest person under 40 in the country.

16. Henry Ford (1863-1947)

> Estimated net worth in 2018: $68.3 billion

> Source of wealth: automobiles

>Birthplace: Dearborn, Michigan

Thanks to the dominance of the Ford Motor Company, Henry Ford became one of the most famous American entrepreneurs. After inventing the mobile assembly line, Ford was able to build cars efficiently and cheaply. By 1918, almost half of the cars on American roads were Ford.

15. Marshall Field (1834-1906)

> Estimated net worth in 2018: $76.3 billion

>Source of wealth: department stores

>Birthplace: Conway, Massachusetts

Marshall Field was a hard-working salesman who made his fortune from the eponymous department store chain. He began his youth by getting a job at Chicago Mercantile, then worked his way up through the stores to become a partner in the company. He eventually bought out his partners and renamed his corporate store Marshall Field and Company.

14. Jay Gould (1836-1892)

> Estimated net worth in 2018: $79.6 billion

>Source of wealth: railroads

>Birthplace: Roxbury, New York

Many 19th-century industrialists were notorious for their unscrupulous business practices and were derisively referred to as "robber barons. Because of his business practices, Jay Gould was probably one of the most despised men. He reportedly issued fraudulent stock to buyers and bribed lawmakers to ensure the sale went through. He used most of his profits to purchase a portion of the Union Pacific Railroad.

13. Warren Buffett (born 1930)

> Estimated net worth in 2018: $85.1 billion

>Source of wealth: Berkshire Hathaway

>Birthplace: Omaha, Nebraska

Warren Buffett, known as the "Oracle of Omaha," is a modern legend of investment and business diversification. He founded his firm, Buffett Partnership, in 1956 and quickly became a millionaire. He then purchased a textile company called Berkshire Hathaway, but terminated the textile division and purchased various assets. Berkshire Hathaway's stock is now one of the most coveted stocks on the market. Warren Buffett is also known for his generous philanthropic giving; he has given away more than $32 billion.

12. Friedrich Weyerhaeuser (1834-1914)

> Estimated net worth in 2018: $92.7 billion

>Source of wealth: timber

>Birthplace: Schollheim, Germany

Friedrich Weyerhaeuser left Germany at age 18 and began working at a sawmill in Illinois. after the recession of 1857, Weyerhaeuser bought the mill and expanded his empire. He purchased logging operations around the Mississippi River, and in 1900, he purchased 900,000 acres of land in Washington, D.C., thus setting the record for the largest private land transaction.

11. Bill Gates (born 1955)

> Estimated net worth in 2018: $99.3 billion

>Source of wealth: Microsoft

>Birthplace: Seattle, Washington

After founding Microsoft, Bill Gates was named the richest man in the United States for more than 20 years. He dropped out of Harvard and founded Microsoft with his partner Paul Allen. The company shifted from making computers to also providing software. Today, based on revenues, Investopedia ranks it as the world's largest software company.

10. Alexander Turney Stewart (1803-1876)

> Estimated net worth in 2018: $101.7 billion

>Source of wealth: department stores

> Place of birth: Lisbon, Ireland

Alexander Turney Stewart slowly transformed his $3,000 inheritance into one of the largest retail empires in American history. Stewart was born in Ireland and traveled to the United States to sell dry goods. He became one of the first retailers to offer standard prices rather than haggle with customers. Stewart's company became so large because it won contracts to supply uniforms to Union soldiers during the Civil War.

9. Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919)

> Estimated net worth in 2018: $102.7 billion

>Source of wealth: Carnegie Steel Corporation

>Birthplace: Dunfermline, Scotland

Andrew Carnegie's company provided the steel needed during a time of considerable new transportation infrastructure construction in the United States. In 1901, Carnegie sold his company for $200 million and focused on philanthropy. He once wrote "man who dies rich dies disgraced.

8. Stephen Van Rensselaer (1764-1839)

> Estimated net worth in 2018: $102.7 billion

> Source of wealth: inheritance, real estate

> Place of birth: New York City, New York

Stephen Van Rensselaer was born into wealth. His father died when he was 5 years old, leaving him with a large amount of land and property. Stephen Van Rensselaer decided to rent out most of his properties, one of which reportedly has as many as 100,000 tenants.

7. Richard Mellon (1858-1933)

> Estimated net worth in 2018: $104.7 billion

> Source of wealth: banking

> Birthplace: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

In 1882, Richard Mellon and his brother Andrew took over a bank run by their father. The two men also profited from the steel and coal industries and the burgeoning railroad business. Andrew eventually entered politics, becoming Secretary of the Treasury, while Richard stayed in the private sector.

6. Stephen Girard (1750-1831)

> Estimated net worth in 2018: $122 billion

>Source of wealth: shipping

>Birthplace: Bordeaux, France

Despite being born before the founding of the United States, Stephen Girard became one of the most important business tycoons of the early United States. He assembled a trading fleet and invested most of his money in the First Bank of the United States. He eventually purchased the bank's assets and used them to lend millions of dollars to the young nation, keeping the government running during the War of 1812.

5. John Jacob Astor (1763-1848)

> Estimated net worth in 2018: $140.3 billion

> Source of wealth: fur trade, real estate

>Birthplace: Waldorf, Germany

John Jacob Astor is a model of American success. He moved from Germany to the United States penniless and started a fur trading company that prospered. After selling his trading company, he invested in real estate in New York City. At one point his company owned hundreds of properties in Manhattan.

4. Jeff Bezos (born 1964)

> Estimated net worth in 2018: $151.6 billion

>Source of wealth: Amazon

>Birthplace: Albuquerque, New Mexico

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has seen his net worth soar in the past year as his company continues to dominate the online shopping market

3. Sam Walton (1918-1992)

> Estimated net worth in 2018: $171.6 billion

>Source of wealth: Walmart

>Birthplace: Kingfisher, Oklahoma

Walmart is the largest brick-and-mortar retailer in the United States, and its success is largely influenced by its founder, Sam Walton. He expanded his first retail operations from overseeing a single Ben Franklin store in Arkansas to managing 15 retail stores. After he was matched with the chain's managers, he decided to open his stores. The first Wal-Walmartned in 1962, and by 1976 the company had a market value of more than $176 million.

2. Cornelius Vanderbilt C1794-1877)

> Estimated net worth in 2018: $208.4 billion

>Source of wealth: shipping

>Birthplace: Staten Island, New York

Cornelius Vanderbilt's first fortune was in shipping goods on the rivers around New York City. Later, he helped establish the railroad industry in the mid-19th century as a means of shipping goods to the West.

1. John Davidson Rockefeller John D. Rockefeller (1839-1937)

> Estimated net worth in 2018: $257.3 billion

>Source of wealth: Standard Oil

>Birthplace: Ridgeford, New York

John D. Rockefeller was one of the most successful businessmen of all time. He established an oil quality standard and worked hard to run his company, Standard Oil, with maximum efficiency. Rockefeller may have been the first American billionaire, but he was certainly the richest American of all time. It is estimated that his wealth represents about one-fifth of the U.S. gross domestic product.