A Classification of American Wealth
History and genealogy of the wealthy families of America - Sponsors

Part 1 : Colonial and Mercantile America	Part 2 : America in the Gilded Age
Part 3 : America in the Twentieth Century	Encyclopedia of American Wealth
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Chronicles of American Wealth / Nr 16 / April 9, 2004

<< List of chronicles

Content :
1 – A new historical list : “ Detroit millionaires in 1892 “
(Extract from the Tribune List of American Millionaires in 1892)
2 – Updated Wealth Classification Lists : Individuals 1875/1900

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A new historical list : “Detroit millionaires in 1892“
(Extract from the Tribune List of American Millionaires in 1892)

"The Tribune List of Persons Reputed to be Worth a Million or More" was published by The Tribune Monthly magazine as its June 1892 edition. This list contains 4,047 names of American millionaires by state and city. It does not list fortunes or estimates except where known facts about estates were available. It indicates the lines of business in which the fortunes were made and in some cases the main enterprises in which they were invested at the time. The Tribune list of 1892 was the first complete listing of American millionaires and thus constitutes a valuable basis for the study and analysis of wealth accumulation and wealthy people in America during the Gilded Age. An incomplete list of 1892 millionaires and millionaire estates, including all Tribune 1892 nominees already in the AW database will soon join the roster of Encyclopedia of American Wealth's historical lists. As with all our lists, the 1892 list uses the data of the American Wealth database and thereby exceeds the information content of the original historical list. This basic list will be completed gradually as the AW database grows, with specific geographic areas (cities or states) being treated periodically. The extract containing the 42 listed millionaires of Detroit in 1892 is just the first of many extracts to come, until the whole list is complete.

Detroit is so thoroughly associated with the automobile industry, the impression is easily gained that all of Detroit's large fortunes were derived from the motor car business. Yet in 1892, four years before Charles Brady King and Henry Ford, each on their side, built their first gasoline powered carriage, there were already 42 Detroit millionaires recorded in the famous Tribune list. Obviously none had derived his wealth from the still unborn automobile industry, but some were active in the very fields that attracted the skilled mechanics so much needed to the early automotive development. The same and others would be ready investors for the nascent car industry.

... continued as comments to the new AW historical list “Detroit millionaires in 1892”

Read more about Detroit and its early non-automotive fortunes at "A Classification of American Wealth" :

              - AW Historical List " Detroit millionaires in 1892 "
              - List of Michigan's forty eight 1892 millionaires, not living in Detroit
              - Updated AW wealth classification lists for individuals 1875, 1900 and 1925
              - Profiles of wealth individuals and families at “Encyclopedia of American Wealth”

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Updated Wealth Classification Lists : Individuals 1875 / 1900 / 1925

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