Patriarch Cornelius Vanderbilt (1794-1877) built up the fortune and his son William Henry Vanderbilt multiplied it, following which it was divided and gradually declined.
Cornelius Vanderbilt founded Vanderbilt University.
The Vanderbilt family had some land in Corwith Township, Michigan which was settled about 1875. When the Michigan Central Railroad (also owned by the Vanderbilts) came through in 1880, the village of Vanderbilt, Michigan was set up there.
See also Vanderbilt houses.