Orlando Brunson Potter (March 10, 1823 – January 2, 1894) was a businessman and member of the United States House of Representatives from New York City.

In May 1853, he moved to New York and engaged in manufacturing and patent law as President of the Grover and Baker Sewing Machine Company.

And he pursued agricultural interests with a six hundred acre farm on the Hudson in Ossining, New York.

[3] In 1884, he purchased the site at 71 Broadway and began planning development of the Empire Building, to be later completed by his estate.

In an exhaustive letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase on August 14, 1861, Potter outlined the means to develop a national banking system.