Thomas Leiper (15 December 1745 – 6 July 1825) was a Scottish American businessman, banker and politician who owned a successful tobacco exportation business as well as several mills and stone quarries.

The Leiper Railroad was a three-quarter-mile long track on his property in Nether Providence Township, Pennsylvania, used to ship quarry stone to market with animal-powered carts.

He purchased tobacco from his Virginia colleagues including Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, and exported it overseas.

Leiper seized the opportunity, expanded his business and became the principal tobacco agent in Philadelphia, then the capital of the United States.

[5] Leiper was a founder of the Philadelphia City Troop, a city-based light cavalry, and served with them as lieutenant during the Revolution at the battles of Princeton, Trenton, Brandywine, and Germantown.

[6] He also acted with his corps in quelling several civil insurrections and riots, notably in the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794, and in an attack on the residence of James Wilson in Philadelphia, when he was one of the seven troopers that charged and routed the mob of rioters.

[9] In 1790, Leiper and a fellow landowner, John Wall, petitioned the Pennsylvania legislature to allow the construction of a canal in order to ship stone from his quarry to the market.

A gravity tramway was built by British soldiers in 1764 at the Niagara Portage in Lewiston, New York under the supervision of John Montresor.

A 180 foot long stretch of wood rails laid on wooden ties spaced eight feet apart was created as an experiment in the Northern Liberties neighborhood of Philadelphia.

[11] The experiment was deemed a success when a single horse was able to haul a four-wheeled cart loaded with over 10,000 pounds of weight.

[15] Leiper's enterprises generated a large fortune, which enabled him to build a grand estate on 414 acres in Nether Providence Township, known as Strathaven Hall after his place of birth.

[4] Together with Robert Morris, Leiper loaned one third of his estate to the Bank of North America which allowed it to fund the military efforts of George Washington at the Siege of Yorktown.

[22] In 1791, Leiper rented a large four-story house with stables in Philadelphia to Thomas Jefferson when he worked as Secretary of State.