1763–1848

“Could I begin life again, knowing what I know now,” John Jacob Astor said late in his life, “I would buy every foot of land on the island of Manhattan.” An absolutely ruthless real estate speculator, he bought significant regions of Midtown and Downtown before they were developed, becoming one of the richest men in the country as the values of these properties skyrocketed. Astor Place, where he once lived, is named after him, and the ceramic bas–relief beavers featured in the Astor Place subway station are references to his first fortune made in the fur trade. His descendents managed his real estate empire after his death and two of them, William Waldorf Astor and John Jacob Astor IV, cooperated to create the Waldorf–Astoria Hotel.