She Divorced A Tycoon When No Woman Dared. Then She Broke Mrs. Astor: Alva Vanderbilt

In 1883, Alva Vanderbilt spent roughly $250,000 on a single costume ball for 1,200 guests, and before the night began the most powerful woman in New York was forced to bow to her. Twelve years later, in 1895, she did the unthinkable for a woman of her class and divorced one of the richest men in America, walking away with a settlement reported at more than $10 million. That same year she forced her own daughter to the altar with a British duke for a dowry of $2.5 million in railroad stock. Then, widowed and in her 50s, she turned her entire fortune against the government and became the money behind the fight for the vote. Born into cotton wealth in 1853 and dead in Paris in 1933, she spent 80 years refusing every limit placed on her. But the price of that ambition was paid by the people closest to her. In this video, we talk about how one woman clawed her way to the summit of Gilded Age society and far beyond, including the 1883 Vanderbilt costume ball, the calling card war with Caroline Astor, the building of the Petit Chateau and Marble House, the scandalous 1895 divorce, the forced Marlborough marriage, the dollar princess trade, her love match with Oliver Belmont, and her reinvention as the leading financier of the militant suffrage movement. Subscribe to Feminine Legacies and stay for the powerful women history tried to shrink into footnotes. Comment where in the world you are watching from and tell me whether you see Alva Vanderbilt as a tyrant or a trailblazer. Share this with anyone who loves the Gilded Age, on Facebook, Reddit, or in your group chats, because you are the reason these stories keep getting told. #AlvaVanderbilt #Vanderbilt #GildedAge #CarolineAstor #MrsAstor #ConsueloVanderbilt #DukeOfMarlborough #MarbleHouse #Newport #DollarPrincess #NewYorkHistory #Suffrage #WomensHistory #AlicePaul #NationalWomansParty #Heiress #HighSociety #FifthAvenue #BlenheimPalace #FeminineLegacies #PowerfulWomen #History