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This Day In History, April 6th, 2020 – “Money Is Honey”



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It was just 212 years ago today, April 6, 1808 when American Capitalist and Entrepreneur John Jacob Astor founded the American Fur Company. Soon Astor’s Company would develop into a monopoly, practically controlling all the fur trade not only in the U.S., but all North America. As a result, Astor would become America’s first millionaire. Like a massive empire, the American Fur Company also had its own subsidiaries, the Pacific Fur Company and the Southwest Fur Company, further stretching out its power over the land.

This Day in History, history, American History

Astor’s story is really the American story. He was an immigrant from Germany. In fact, his great grandson, John Jacob Astor IV, built the Waldorf Astoria, naming it after the German town Waldorf where Astor was born. John Jacob Astor IV would perish in the sinking of the Titanic. Astor used his millions for many things, once the fur trade seemed to die down, he went into real estate and even opium sales in China. On this date, 212 years ago a man of small means became a tycoon, and the idea of achievement continues to be a reality in this Nation.


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