Benjamin Rathbun (December 1, 1790 – July 20, 1873) was an American entrepreneur from

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...

. He was born in the area of Westford, Connecticut. His family had settled in New York from Connecticut. Before entering real estate, his Eagle Tavern served those who were traveling between Buffalo and Albany. In the 19th century, he built out the city's central business district and many other areas of the city, totaling hundreds of buildings. These included a fourteen-floor warehouse, dozens of low-rise buildings, a hotel, and nearly three dozen private dwellings. His investors were looking to capitalize on the explosive growth of Buffalo after the

Erie Canal The Erie Canal is a historic canal in upstate New York that runs east–west between the Hudson River and Lake Erie. Completed in 1825, the canal was the first navigability, navigable waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, ...

was finished. Rathbun drew inspiration from

Alexander Hamilton Alexander Hamilton (January 11, 1755 or 1757July 12, 1804) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the first U.S. secretary of the treasury from 1789 to 1795 dur ...

and implemented

vertical integration In microeconomics, management and international political economy, vertical integration, also referred to as vertical consolidation, is an arrangement in which the supply chain of a company is integrated and owned by that company. Usually each ...

into his business model. He began to operate a quarry, brickyards, and machine shops. He would also hire his own architects, shipping personnel, and other tradesmen to help see his projects to completion. By 1836, Rathbun's projects under construction had a collective value of $5.5 million ($ in ). His reputation led to him opening his own bank, with banknotes displaying his signature as "B. Rathbun". Rathbun's plans for more projects, including a Buffalo Exchange building, were halted prior to the

Panic of 1837 The Panic of 1837 was a financial crisis in the United States that began a major depression (economics), depression which lasted until the mid-1840s. Profits, prices, and wages dropped, westward expansion was stalled, unemployment rose, and pes ...

—he was later jailed for

forged endorsement Forged endorsement is a type of fraudulent payment. For example, someone may write a cheque with a forged signature. In this case the forged signature makes the endorsement fraudulent. Forging endorsements can be used to prevent the person or lega ...

s in 1836. This crisis led to mass unemployment in the lodging, education and banking sectors, which relied on his company's fortunes to succeed. Rathbun died on July 20, 1873. The vast majority of Rathbun's buildings have been destroyed or demolished in the years since his period of activity. The sole exception is the Title Guarantee Building at the corner of Franklin and West Eagle Streets, which he built in 1833 as home of the First Unitarian Church, but was heavily altered by architect Franklin W. Caulkins upon its conversion to offices in the 1880s.

References

External links

Benjamin Rathbun's Buffalo - 1836
- A narrative and animation illustrating the development of downtown Buffalo in the 19th century {{DEFAULTSORT:Rath, Benjamin Businesspeople from Buffalo, New York American businesspeople in real estate 19th-century American businesspeople 1790 births 1873 deaths People convicted of forgery