There were a variety of key industries and technological innovations that led to the industrial boom.
Transportation
Railroads began their quest to cross the continent. In 1850 there were about 9,000 miles of track laid. Aided by government land grants in 1865 there was over 35,000 miles of track and by 1890 there was over 200,000 miles of track. By the year 1900 there was a nationwide network of railroads that made shipping and transportation easier and helped to spur on industrial growth.
New technologies in railroads also helped. George Westinghouse developed the air braking system and George Pullman developed sleeping cars.
Building Materials
New factories and office buildings were growing in size. Newer buildings in cities began to reach towards the sky and it was obvious that the old brick and wood buildings could not handle the load. New materiels such as concrete, steel and glass were used to build the new urban centers.
Andrew Carnegie built Carnegie Steel Corporation and then sold it to J. P. Morgan, who had made a fortune in banking, who created United States Steel Corporation.
Energy Sources
New energy sources powered the factories of the industrial age. Oil, electricity and coal would be the energy sources of the future.
Thomas Alva Edison started the nations first electric generating station and developed many invention including the light bulb and record player to utilize the new technology. George Westinghouse developed alternating current. A current of e;electricity that could travel long distances. Now wire could be drawn across the whole nation to transport electricity cheaply and efficiently.
John David Rockefeller organized Standard Oil Company of Ohio. Standard Oil became a huge oil monopoly (also known as trust). Demand for oil skyrocketed after 1901 and Rockefeller became the wealthiest man in the world.
Communications
Technologies developed to ease communications between soldiers during the Civil War became useful to everyday men and women. Samuel F. B. Morse developed the first telegraphic sending device and code called Morse Code. Later The Telegraph sent messages across America and the Atlantic Ocean. In 1876 Alexander Graham Bell invented the Telephone. The Bell Telephone Company was formed the next year and American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T) was created in 1900.
All of these new technologies shaped and made industrialization possible.
