John Jacob Astor is widely regarded as the first American multimillionaire.

Quick Scoop: Who He Was

  • John Jacob Astor (1763–1848) was a German-born American businessman who made a vast fortune in the fur trade, international commerce, and New York City real estate.
  • By the time of his death in 1848, his wealth was estimated at about 20 million dollars, making him the first multi-millionaire in the United States.

How He Made His Fortune

  • Astor built an early monopoly in the North American fur trade, then expanded into a New York–London–Canton (China) trading network dealing in furs, tea, and opium.
  • Anticipating New York’s explosive growth, he shifted much of his capital into Manhattan real estate, becoming known as a major landlord and real estate baron.

Why He’s Remembered

  • Later historians and reference works consistently describe him as the first multi-millionaire in the United States, and even modern crossword clues use “Astor” as the answer to “First American multimillionaire.”
  • His fortune was so large for its time that contemporaries remarked that roughly one of every hundred dollars in the U.S. economy passed through his hands.

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