Charles Macalester

Life & Legacy

Charles Macalester (February 17, 1798 – December 9, 1873) was an American businessman, banker and philanthropist from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He served as a government director for the Second Bank of the United States and an advisor and friend to several U.S. presidents. His brokerage and financing activities made him one of the wealthiest people in the United States at the time. He bequested a former hotel property to a failing Presbyterian secondary school in Saint Paul, Minnesota that became Macalester College and was named in his honor. His Glengarry estate in the Torresdale neighborhood of Philadelphia was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.