John McDonogh
| John McDonogh | |
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| Born | December 29, 1779 |
| Died | October 26, 1850 (aged 70) |
| Occupation | Trader, real estate speculator |
| Net worth | USD $2 million at the time of his death (approximately 1/1278 of US GNP) |
John McDonogh (29 December 1779–26 October 1850) was a United States entrepreneur and philanthropist, described as miserly, controversial, and eccentric.
He is best known for endowing public education in two major American cities—New Orleans and Baltimore.
McDonogh was born in Baltimore and entered the shipping business there. In 1800 his employers sent him as supercargo on a ship to Liverpool, England, to procure a cargo of goods for the Louisiana trade. He was successful, and after a second such voyage decided to make his home in New Orleans. Establishing a store and engaging in the "commission and shipping business," he prospered there.
In 1818, he was a candidate for the U.S. Senate. After he lost that election, he left New Orleans and settled across the Mississippi River, establishing the town of McDonoghville, now called McDonogh, which is in present-day Algiers and Gretna. The site of his McDonoghville home has long since been eroded into the Mississippi River.
The young McDonogh was mentioned as having unsuccessfully courted Micaela Almonester, who went on to become the Baroness Pontalba, one of the most important figures in New Orleans history; however, there are no documented sources of this rumor. He was also rebuffed in courtship later in life. A failure to marry and the loss of the Senate race may have contributed to a life which has been described as reclusive. William H. Seymour, a local and near-contemporary chronicler, described him in 1896 as having been an "eccentric philanthropist" who "for twenty-two long years toiled" within the walls of his "somber dwelling."#facts
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