

1860–1882
Born during or after the Civil War, they built industrial America — the railroads, the steel mills, the first skyscrapers. An era of massive wealth, massive inequality, and the belief that the future belonged to whoever could build it fastest.
Albert was born in 1875, placing them squarely in The Gilded Age. The events that shaped this generation — world wars, depression, and rapid industrialization — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
The biggest hits of 1875
The world at every milestone
Edison patents the incandescent light bulb
World's Columbian Exposition dazzles Chicago
First modern Olympic Games held in Athens
Einstein publishes the theory of special relativity
The Lusitania is sunk by a German U-boat
The Scopes Trial debates evolution in schools
Social Security Act signed into law
WWII ends; atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Rosa Parks refuses to give up her bus seat
Fidel Castro takes power in Cuba
“I want to write music that is immediately pleasing to the ear and heart.”