Andrew Dexter Jr. | |
|---|---|
 1808 portrait by Gilbert Stuart | |
| Born | Andrew Dexter Jr. March 28, 1779 |
| Died | November 2, 1837 (aged 58) |
| Alma mater | Brown University |
| Occupation(s) | Attorney Businessman Land speculator |
| Years active | 1798-1837 |
| Known for | Commission of one of the first large-scale financial frauds in the United States |
| Notable work | Exchange Coffee House, Boston, Massachusetts |
| Spouse | Charlotte Morton (1787-1819) (m. 1808-1819, her death) |
| Children | 3 |
| Parent(s) | Andrew Dexter (1751-1811) Mary (Newton) Dexter (1757-1825) |
| Relatives | Samuel Dexter (uncle) Simon Newton Dexter (brother) Perez Morton (father-in-law) |
Andrew Dexter Jr. (March 28, 1779 – November 2, 1837), was an American lawyer, financier, and speculator. He is known for committing one of the first major financial frauds in the United States, and for being the founder of Montgomery, Alabama.
A graduate of Brown University, Dexter was admitted to the bar and briefly practiced law before turning to business and financial speculation. Around 1805 he conceived the idea of a large office building with public meeting space, and began construction of the Exchange Coffee House in Boston. Dexter resorted to printing massive quantities of worthless bank notes to pay for construction and operation of the building; when his fraud was uncovered, he lost control of the venture and fled the country to escape his creditors. He later returned from Canada, and lived in New York while he worked to repair his finances and settle his debts.
Following the death of his father, Dexter inherited a claim in the Yazoo lands. At the 1817 Yazoo lands auction, he purchased several hundred acres along the Alabama River, and settled a town he called New Philadelphia. When Alabama joined the Union in 1819, Dexter's town was renamed Montgomery. He lived there and continued trying to achieve success in business and land speculation, but his circumstances continued to rise and fall with turns in the economy. He died in Mobile, Alabama in 1837, and was again near poverty as the result of setbacks caused by the Panic of 1837. Dexter was buried in Mobile, but the exact location of his gravesite is not known.