Alexander Milne

Alexander Milne (1742–1838) was a Scottish American entrepreneur and philanthropist and was born in Fochabers, Moray, Scotland. He was employed as a footman by the Duke of Richmond and Gordon and when ordered by the duke to powder his red hair, Milne declined, left his employment and emigrated to the American colonies. By 1776, Milne had moved to New Orleans in Louisiana (New Spain), where, after doing well in the hardware business, he set up a brick-making company using mainly slave labour—by the late 18th century most of the brick used in New Orleans was made at his works.

Real estate investments The Spanish Government granted Milne large tracts of swamp lands bordering on Lake Pontchartrain and seeing the potential for development continued to invest heavily in the area right up until his death. He owned large quantities of land in his own establishment town of Milneburg (now a section of New Orleans) and according to Kendall, in the course of one week disposed of some of his landholdings realising $3,000,000. He continued to invest in property in New Orleans and at his death, his real estate properties were worth more than $2,000,000.