Benjamin Rathbun

Benjamin Rathbun (December 1, 1790 – July 20, 1873) was an American entrepreneur from Buffalo, New York. He was born in the area of Westford, Connecticut. His family had settled in New York from Connecticut. These included a fourteen-floor warehouse, dozens of low-rise buildings, a hotel, and nearly three dozen private dwellings. Rathbun drew inspiration from Alexander Hamilton and implemented vertical integration into his business model. This crisis led to mass unemployment in the lodging, education and banking sectors, which relied on his company's fortunes to succeed. Rathbun died on July 20, 1873.

The vast majority of Rathbun's buildings have been destroyed or demolished in the years since his period of activity. The sole exception is the Title Guarantee Building at the corner of Franklin and West Eagle Streets, which he built in 1833 as home of the First Unitarian Church, but was heavily altered by architect Franklin W. Caulkins upon its conversion to offices in the 1880s.