James Densmore (February 3, 1820 – September 16, 1889) was an American businessman and inventor. He worked with Christopher Sholes, who, along with Carlos Glidden and Samuel W. Soule, helped create one of the first practical typewriters at a machine shop in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

It was thought that Densmore proposed separating commonly used letter combinations to fix a problem with the typewriter jamming. However, this idea was later improved by Sholes, leading to the creation of the QWERTY key layout.

Densmore strongly believed in being a vegetarian. He ate mostly raw apples. His brother was a physician named Emmet Densmore.

Densmore also supported women's right to vote in Wisconsin. When he was the editor of the Oshkosh True Democrat newspaper, the paper publicly endorsed women’s suffrage.

Densmore is remembered for the mysterious group he planned in his will, called The Densmore Foundation.