Victorian America was home to thousands of businesses and industries. Some, like coal and timber industries, operated on a massive scale. Others (such as a San Francisco firm that "broke" wild horses for the British army) were relatively small. And some, like Louisiana's alligator farmers (which provided alligator skins for the Paris fashion industry) were just plain... different. Here's a look at some of the businesses that thrived in Victorian America.

The First Century of the Republic #6: Progress in Manufacture, by David Wells (Harper's Monthly, 1875A)

A historical look at manufacturing and imports before and after the American Revolution and concludes with an interesting look at manufacturing statistics for a variety of industries in the US as of 1870. (Read the complete series.)

The First Century of the Republic #9: Commercial Development, by Edward Atkinson (Harper's Monthly, 1875B)

(Read the complete series.)

An American Enterprise (Harper's Monthly, 1875B)

The history of the express forwarding business of the US.

Broken Banks and Lax Directors (Century Magazine, 1882A)

Why so many US banks were insolvent.

Decorative Pottery of Cincinnati (Harper's Monthly, 1881A)

Pottery in the United States (Harper's Monthly, 1881A)

King Coal's Highway (Harper's Monthly, 1882A)

Transporting coal up the Mississippi.

Something About Cleveland "Pigs" [pig iron], by J.W. Steel (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1882)

Alligator Farming, by C.F. Gordon Cumming (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1883)

A Visit to a Canning House [in Baltimore], by Catherine Owen (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1884)

The Flour-Mills of Minneapolis, by Eugene V. Smalley (Century Magazine, 1886B)

Great American Industries: A Printed Book, by R.R. Bowker (Harper's Monthly, 1887B)

Great American Industries: A Sheet of Paper, by R.R. Bowker (Harper's Monthly, 1887B)

Labor and Capital: A Connecticut Experiment, by Washington Gladden (Century Magazine, 1887B)

The Seaside Institute in Bridgeport, Connecticut was built for the use and benefit of the female employees of the Warner Brothers Corset Company. It was designed as a dining, lecture and meeting hall with library, music and reading rooms for the benefit of these female employees, as well as a rooming-house.

Landscape Gardeners Needed for America (Century Magazine, 1887B)

Sugar-Making in Louisiana, by Eugene V. Smalley (Century Magazine, 1888A)

What's the News? by Eugene M. Camp (Century Magazine, 1890B)

Some statistics about the major US newspapers of the day.

The Alligator Hunters of Louisiana, by Andrews Wilkinson (Century Magazine, 1892A)

Meeting the demand of the alligator hide industry, particularly in Paris.

American Railways and American Cities, by Henry J. Fletcher (Atlantic Monthly, 1894)

In and About a Lumber Camp, by Sara R. McIsaac (Demorest, 1894)

The Marvels of Bicycle-Making, by Cleveland Moffett (McClures, 1897)

A visit to the works of the Pope Manufacturing Company.

Timber Titans, by George Dollar (The Strand, 1897B)

The California redwoods, and other noteworthy "timbers," plus a look at the American logging industry and the "Joggins Raft," a method of transporting large quantities of timber by water.

A Common Crystal, by John R. Watkins (The Strand, 1899A)

A look at how salt is gathered and processed in Salton, California.

Breaking Wild Horses for the Army (Strand, 1901A)

The largest firm of horse-breakers for the military was W.R. Grace and Co. of San Francisco, which provided horses for the British army.

See also

• Agriculture

• Rural Life