This past weekend, Elaine and I visited Jekyll Island and stayed at the historic Jekyll Island club Resort Hotel. The Hotel was built in 1888 after a group of ultra wealthy people bought the whole island a couple of years before. At its peak there were 121 members of the club with such names as Rockefeller, Astor, Gould, JP Morgan, Vanderbilt, Pulitzer and many others. It was said that in 1900, the club members controlled 1/sixth of the World’s wealth. At the time, the world’s wealth was roughly 2 trillion dollars. Today the total is closer to 454 trillion.

Many of these families built homes (they called them cottages) around the hotel. Every meal was an event and many of the homes didn’t have kitchens, so the meals were taken at the club hotel. It was said that if a husband and wife came for the summer, the wife would need to bring 90 dresses because it was unconscionable to wear the same dress twice because someone may remember it.

So, 1/sixth of two trillion dollars of the world wealth was roughly 350 billion dollars. That was what the Jekyll Club members controlled in 1900. Imagine what that much money was like when a car cost $500 and a nice home could be purchased for around $3,000. Someone at that time that was gainfully employed earned about $500 per year. So, to buy a new car was a whole year’s salary.

Several things took place at Jekyll that changes the landscape of America. First – the Federal Reserve (yes, the big one in the news everyday) was created in 1913 at Jekyll Island. Second-the first US transcontinental phone call in 1915 was also listened to from Jekyll Island. Third – The first condominium ownership building in the US was built at Jekyll Island. Many other inventions, industry creations, mergers, acquisitions etc. took place among those people that were members of the Jekyll Island Club.

Needless to say, I love history and especially hotel history, but I came away with two thoughts. First – we cannot dwell on (get lost in) the success and history (even if it is captivating) of other people. Two – all those people that started the Jekyll Island Club are gone and it is our turn. Let’s make our turn count. KT