It is fitting that the statue of Commodore Vanderbilt, the man who built Grand Central Terminal, stands just outside the great building at the very spot where Park Avenue divides and sweeps around each side of the terminal. An elegant steel bridge carries the eye towards the statue of Vanderbilt, while the great stone column at left replicates the thrust of the statue. Vanderbilt, the second wealthiest man in US history (after John D. Rockefeller), controlled 17 railroads and many steamship lines in the 19th century, and in the process invented what came to be known as the “giant corporation.” This statue, paid for by his friends and associates, was sculpted to honor Vanderbilt in 1869, while he was still very much alive. It stood at the top of Vanderbilt’s vast freight terminal for the next sixty years. When that terminal was torn down in 1929, the statue was moved here to Grand Central, where it commands Park Avenue to this day.