The Four Hundred (Gilded Age) significant person Caroline Webster Schermerhorn Astor
Wait a moment and I will give you a correct list, don't you know, of the people who form what is known as the Four Hundred. Do you understand it will be authorized, reliable, and, don't you know, the only correct list.
The list, purported to include the crème de la crème of New York society, consisted largely of "bankers, lawyers, brokers, real estate men, and railroaders, with one editor (Paul Dana of The New York Sun), one publisher, one artist, and two architects."  It also included a mix of both "Nobs" and "Swells". "Nobs" came from old money (including the Astors, the Goelets, the Livingstons, and the Van Rensselaers), and "Swells" were representatives of the nouveau riche, who Mrs. Astor felt, begrudgingly, were able to partake in polite society (best personified by the Vanderbilt family).