Stewart’s business was known as A.T. Stewart & Co. and his first store opened in 1823 and sold Irish fabrics and domestic calicos that he bought with his earnings as a tutor combined with his inheritance from his grandfather. The business would later expand to mail orders. Stewart was offered the position of Secretary of the Treasury by President Ulysses S. Grant but he was not confirmed by the United States Senate. A.T. Stewart passed away on April 10, 1876 as one of the richest men in New York.
