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OLIVER CROSBY One of the principal manufacturing concerns which give character and resources to St. Paul as an industrial center is the American Hoist and Derrick Company. One of the founders of this business in 1882 and now its president is Oliver Crosby, whose career as a manufacturer is one of the most interesting and stimulating among St. Paul's industrial leaders. Mr. Crosby from early youth manifested a high degree of mechanical ability and inventiveness, and has never in the ordinary sense of the term been a business promoter, but a manufacturer from the ground up—one of the old-fashioned types, who believe in the efficiency of personal service and personal acquaintance among all his employes.   The American Hoist and Derrick Company had its beginning in a small wooden shop, near the corner of Eighth and Robert streets in St. Paul. Oliver Crosby and Frank J. Johnson were the prime movers in the enterprise in 1882, and each member of the firm was a practical mechanic. In their shop they executed small contracts and repair work. Oliver Crosby was the machinist, bookkeeper and financial man, while Mr. Johnson was a pattern maker by trade. For several years the firm had an uphill fight, and the business paid little more than enough for the family expenses of the proprietors. The power for the machinery was supplied by a small stationary engine and all the equipment was crude compared to the splendid quarters now occupied by the American Hoist & Derrick Company, which had the seed of its origin and development in this little shop. Though the capital was exceedingly limited, all the character and skill of the proprietors were stamped on the output, and gradually the machine shop began prospering. In the fall of 1886 the plant was moved to its present quarters at the south end of the Robert Street Bridge, and since that time its growth has been probably as remarkable as that exhibited by many other St. Paul industrial concerns. Its large buildings and yard occupy several acres of ground, and the business is carried on with the modern machinery and equipment, more than seven hundred employes depending upon this industry for their means of livelihood.   Oliver Crosby is a New Englander, and in his own career has exhibited the mechanical skill and shrewd business judgment which have long been associated with the character of the New England Yankee. He was born at Dexter, Maine, January 29, 1856. He was the fourth Oliver in as many successive generations, and in the Crosby home at St. Paul are a number of heirlooms which suggest the colonial associations of tbe Crosby family. One of these is the old Crosby clock, which was imported to America about the close of the Revolutionary war, and which was at one time the property of Mr, Crosby's grand father. Oliver Crosby was the oldest son of Josiah and Mary B.Crosby, and as their first two children had been girls the advent of a boy was much welcomed.   Since the tastes and pursuits of his early life had such an important bearing on his subsequent success as a St. Paul manufacturer, it will be not inappropriate to quote some sentences from the "Crosby Family Book," referring to his childhood and youth.   "At an early age Oliver showed a strong inclination for mechanics. He instinctively knew the use of carpenter's tools, in which he was much encouraged by his father, who from time to time bought him the common tools used in carpentering. These tools he soon became proficient in using, making simple pieces of furniture and articles for amusement about the home. He built dams where there was running water, making water-wheels to run pulleys and tin buzz-saws, much to the delight of the boys in the neighborhood. The common overshot wheel, with simple paddles, led up to experiments in a simple form of turbine wheels, the idea being suggested by turbine wheels used in the local power plant. Sawing ornamental wall-brackets with a jig-saw of his own construction occupied much of his leisure time.   "On account of the scarcity of water power and the great desire for power for operating his little shop in the barn, it occurred to him to construct a large-size windmill on the barn. The mill was a crude affair and on account of its crudeness did not develop sufficient power to carry out his ideas, but without doubt he gained much amusement any useful information from the experiment. As a small boy of ten or twelve years he often surprised full-fledged mechanics with his knowledge of the use of tools. Journeymen at the bench allowed him to use their tools after once seeing how well he knew their use and could handle them without dulling their edges, this privilege not being usually extended to the average boy.   "Dexter has a great many dams and water-power privileges, which are used for driving the water-wheels in the mills and factories. It was Oliver's delight to be on intimate acquaintance with all the water powers of the town; knowing the number of feet of head, the style of water-wheel, the character of the dams, the methods of conducting power from the dams to the wheels. Building boats and sailing them on the pond was also one of his favorite pastimes, and he constructed with his own hands three sail-boats that were considered quite respectable crafts in those days."   Oliver Crosby was educated in the Maine State College, now the University of Maine, graduating in 1876 as a mechanical engineer. He had entered college with a definite purpose to study mechanical engineering. The facilities for teaching engineering in the State University at that time were very crude. He took his kit of carpenter tools and jigsaw to the institution, arid with a friend fitted up a shop in one of the college buildings. That was the beginning of a workshop for mechanical engineers at the University of Maine. At college his talents in other lines were also displayed. He frequently wrote songs and other verse, contributed to the college paper, was elected poet of the class, and on graduating delivered the class poem.   After his graduation Oliver Crosby spent severa months at home, employed in repairing and painting the buildings, building fences and in other tasks his work being done largely as his contribution to the home before he should take up life in a distant country. His father paid him for the work, and with his savings, amounting to about seventy-five dollars, bought transportation to the Centennial Exposition, then being held in Philadelphia. After a week at the Exposition, he continued his journey west to St. Paul.   When Mr. Crosby arrived at St. Paul early in November, 1876, he had total cash assets of $14.50. He was fortunate in having an old family friend residing in the city, Mr. A. B. Stickney, who had studied law in the elder Crosby's office, and had promised any assistance he could render should any of the boys come to St. Paul. During the following two years Oliver Crosby lived in the Stickney home, and he has always felt lifelong obligations to both Mr. and Mrs. Stickney for their kindness to him in his early career. His first occupation during the winter of 1876-77 was as a timber scaler and bookkeeper in a lumber camp operated by Elam Greeley on the North Wisconsin Railroad.   He and Mr. Greeley lived in a small log cabin, but ate their meals with the lumbermen in the camp. Returning to St. Paul the next spring, he found work in keeping books, collecting accounts, delivering machine repairs, running the bolt-cutter and all other duties of office boy in the small machine shop owned by Robert Depew. While there he learned the machinist's trade, and subsequently was employed in the works of the St. Paul Foundry & Manufacturing Company, and also in the Great Northern Railway Shops. With the latter establishment he was for about two years in the master mechanic's drafting department. During that time he was given permission by the master mechanic to go on the road as a fireman, making the trip from St. Paul to Willmar and return every second day. The days he was not on the locomotive he put in at the master mechanic's office drafting. In this way he secured an excellent education in locomotive work, and was also from time to time allowed to handle a locomotive at the terminals. These constituted his chief experiences in St. Paul prior to the founding of the small machine shop which proved the nucleus of the American Hoist and Derrick Company.   In the spring of 1878 he built himself a small house of two rooms on Rivoli Street. The house being completed he was married on May 8, 1878, to Elizabeth I. Wood. They had been engaged for several years, and only waited for an improved financial condition to marry. Elizabeth was the oldest daughter of Captain H. L. Wood of Dexter, Maine, and had been very popular in the younger social set of that town. The little house on Rivoli Street, with its surroundings of trees and terrace garden, is the center of some of his finest associations, though in material elegance this home presented a great contrast to his residence on Lincoln Avenue, where the Crosby family now live. He is now building a beautiful colonial house on his 20-acre River Boulevard property, known as Stonebridge. Outside of business Mr. Crosby has had many interesting diversions, and his love of children, friends, and his flower garden has been one of the strongest traits of his career. He and his family have traveled extensively, using their own automobile for touring in the countries of Italy, France, Germany and the British Isles.   The children of Oliver Crosby and wife are: Louise Stickney, born May 30, 1881; Frederick, born April 20, 1887; and Ruth, born April 26, 1894. Louise S. was married June 22, 1907, to Ernest Trowbridge Paine, a professor of languages and a member of the faculty at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. They have two children, Arnold, born May 1, 1908, and Elizabeth, born April 13, 1912. Frederick Crosby is connected with the American Hoist and Derrick Company, and has had an all-around shop experience and also in the drafting department and in the general offices. He was married October 26, 1910, to Miss Edith Schliek, and they have a delightful home on Summit Avenue. Ruth, the youngest child, was graduated from the Loomis School at St. Paul, and is now a student in Smith College at Northampton, Massachusetts. After he had successfully established himself in business and was free from some of the heavy responsibilities of his earlier career, Oliver Crosby has always been one of the public spirited men of St. Paul. He served on the city research committee, also as a member of the charter commission, and worked earnestly for the purpose of getting a commission form of government at St. Paul. He has refused any opportunity to become a candidate for public office, and his chief contribution to his city and state has been through the building up and maintenance of an industry which is an important factor in the economic well being of hundreds of families. ( Source: "Minnesota: Its Story and Biography, Vol. 2 (1915)" Submitted by Karen Seeman)