Alexander Robey Shepherd was an American politician and businessman who was the 2nd Governor of the District of Columbia from 1873 to 1874. He was one of the most controversial and influential civic leaders in the history of Washington, D.C., and one of the most powerful big-city political bosses of the Gilded Age. He was also head of the District of Columbia Department of Public Works from 1871 to 1873. He is known, particularly in Washington, as "The Father of Modern Washington."