Photo © New York Public Library

American Fur Company incorporated

Beaver Mural at the Astor Place Subway Station

Description

Founded, 1808

American Fur Company incorporated with John Jacob Astor as its sole stockholder; it becomes America's first monopoly. Astor learned about the fur trade while traveling to the U.S. on a ship. He met a fellow passenger who traded furs with Native Americans. Astor's business grew to include trading with Indian villages and trappers in the American wilderness. He exported furs to Europe and Asia. He benefited from the Jay Treaty of 1794, which opened up new markets in the Great Lakes region and Canada. In 1808, Astor merged all of his fur businesses into the American Fur Company. He also established subsidiaries of the American Fur Company, including the Pacific Fur Company and the Southwest Fur Company.

Defunct, 1847

The American Fur Company faced increasing competition in the 1830s, along with a decline in available furs and aggressive pricing tactics from the Hudson’s Bay Company. By the 1840s, silk had replaced fur in fashion, further weakening the industry. Despite diversifying into other ventures, the company collapsed, with most successor operations failing by the 1850s. John Jacob Astor sold his stake in 1834, reinvesting in Manhattan real estate and becoming America’s wealthiest man. By 1840, the American Fur Company’s dominance had ended.

Installed, 1904

At Astor Place and Fourth Avenue, the walls have a reproduction of a beaver, a reference to the multimillionaire John Jacob Astor's start as a fur trader, designed by the subway's architects, Heins & LaFarge.

Factoids

In 1790, seven years after his arrival in the city, he was of sufficient importance to appear in the Directory thus: ASTOR, J. J., Fur Trader, 40 Little Dock Street (now part of Water Street). It was not, however, until the year 1800, when he was worth a quarter of million dollars and had been in business fifteen years, that he indulged himself in the comfort of living in a house apart from his business. In 1794 he appears in the Directory as "Furrier, 149 Broadway." From 1796 to 1799 he figures as "Fur Merchant, 149 Broadway." In 1800 he had a storehouse at 141 Greenwich Street, and lived at 223 Broadway, on the site of the present Astor House. In 1801 his store was at 71 Liberty Street, and he had removed his residence back to 149 Broadway. The year following we find him again at 223 Broadway, where he continued to reside for a quarter of a century. His house was such as a fifth-rate merchant would now consider much beneath his dignity. Mr. Astor, indeed, had a singular dislike to living in a large house. Astor had neither expensive tastes nor wasteful vices. His luxuries were a pipe, a glass of beer, a game of draughts, a ride on horseback, and the theatre. Of the theatre he was particularly fond. He seldom missed a good performance in the palmy days of the "Old Park."

Related People & Organizations

John Jacob Astor

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