Known everywhere, indeed:

In 1888, Van Dusen was president and general manager of both his eponymous company, then in control of more than 90 elevators stretching from Winona to Pierre, South Dakota, and the Star Eleveator Company.

That year, the stock of the two companies was sold to English investors in London, and merged by 1889 with Charles M. Harrington's Minneapolis company to become Van Dusen-Harrington. This eventually became part of the Peavey Company, acquired by ConAgra in 1982.

Mr. Peavey, as it turns out, had constructed the first concrete grain elevator in 1900, so gobblig up VD-H was only natural.

Van Dusen built one of Minneapolis' most remarkable homes.