20 Facts About Stephen Whitney

Stephen Whitney was one of the wealthiest merchants in New York City in the first half of the 19th century.

Stephen Whitney's fortune was considered second only to that of John Jacob Astor.

Stephen Whitney was a son of Captain Henry Whitney and Eunice Whitney, a daughter of William Clark and Hannah Peck Clark.

Stephen Whitney was a descendant of Henry Whitney who immigrated to southern Connecticut in the mid-seventeenth century.

Stephen Whitney arranged through agents to accept cotton as payment for debts owed him in the South.

Stephen Whitney was able to export some of that cotton during the war through Amelia Island in northern Florida, at the time still part of neutral Spain.

Stephen Whitney is reported to have purchased all the cotton bales used to build fortifications by Andrew Jackson's army during the Battle of New Orleans.

Stephen Whitney bought up real estate in the city, especially in the area around Pearl Street and lower Manhattan.

Stephen Whitney was a director of both the National Bank of Commerce in New York, of which he was a founder in 1839, and the Bank of America.

Stephen Whitney invested in shipping, including the China trade and the Robert Kermit Red Star Line of packets.

Stephen Whitney was one of the many prominent citizens who served on the committee to help the city rebuild.

Stephen Whitney bought up commercial paper during the panic, and held it until it had rebounded.

Politically, Stephen Whitney was an "Old-Line Whig", and like many New Yorkers he was a supporter of Henry Clay.

In 1852 Stephen Whitney was one of the leaders in organizing the City Reform League, which spearheaded a movement to wrest some of the power away from corrupt city aldermen.

Stephen Whitney died at home in Bowling Green on February 16,1860.

Harriet Suydam Stephen Whitney died four months later, in May 1860.

Stephen Whitney, who was famous for refusing to bend to fashion, was still living at 7 Bowling Green when he died, even though the neighborhood had become somewhat run down and all of his peers had moved away.

The contents of the Stephen Whitney living room at 7 Bowling Green have been on permanent display at the Museum of the City of New York since 1936.

Stephen Whitney's wealth was estimated at his death to be at least $8 million, although some thought it was $10 or even $15 million.

Unlike the Astors, he was not given to public philanthropy, and the result is that the Stephen Whitney name is not remembered in the city the way that the Astor name is.