Bio of FOSHAY, Wilbur B. (b.1881), Hennepin Co., MN
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EXTRACTED FROM: History of Minneapolis, Gateway to the Northwest; 
Chicago-Minneapolis, The S J Clarke Publishing Co, 1923; Edited by: Rev. 
Marion Daniel Shutter, D.D., LL.D.; Volume I - Shutter (Historical); 
volume II - Biographical; volume III - Biographical
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WILBUR B. FOSHAY - Vol. II, pg 454-457
Wilbur B. Foshay, a man of exceptional business ability and notably keen
discernment, has had broad experience along business lines and is now
concentrat­ing his attention upon financial matters, being numbered among the
foremost invest­ment bankers of Minneapolis. He was born in Ossining, New York,
December 12, 1881, and his parents were Joseph B. and Julia Foshay. The family
is an old one, having been established in this country at the time of the
Revolutionary war. The American progenitor, Joseph Fouchée, accompanied
Lafayette on his journey to the United States, and his father served as chief of
police under Napoleon Bonaparte, being one of the few men of that day who dared
to oppose his will to that of the emperor.
After completing his public school course Wilbur B. Foshay attended the Mount
Pleasant Military Academy of New York and then entered the employ of the New
York Central Railroad Company, remaining with that road for four years. Being
deeply interested in electrical work, he secured a position with the United Gas
Improvement Company and for six years worked in its Tarrytown plant, during
which period he attended the Cooper Institute of New York city, and also took a
special course in electricity and engineering at the Massachusetts Technical
Insti­tute at Boston. As his knowledge and ability increased he was promoted to
positions of greater importance and at length became assistant manager at
Tarrytown for the United Gas Improvement Company. Later he was with the Electric
Bond & Share Company of New York and for a time was stationed at Wichita,
Kansas. The company then sent him to the Pacific coast to look after its
electric properties in that region. During his stay in California he was
associated with the Fleischhacker interest of San Francisco as manager of the
Northwestern Electric Company of Port­land, Oregon.
In 1917 Mr. Foshay came to Minneapolis in connection with work for various
utilities and he has owned and operated several enterprises of this character in
the states of Minnesota, Iowa and South Dakota. For eight or ten years prior to
1917 he had devoted his attention to the work of financing the properties of the
large corporations which he represented, gaining valuable experience along that
line, and this led to his determination to enter the financial field
independently. Accordingly, in 1917 he organized the W. B. Foshay Company, of
which he has since been the president and controlling mind, and his progressive
spirit, superior administrative powers and untiring efforts have enabled him to
develop an undertaking of extensive proportions. The business of the corporation
consists of the financing of public utilities and the disposal of securities
purchased from their clients. They give special attention to interests in
Minneapolis and the Northwest and finance them here. During the past five years
they have put out fifteen issues and financed them on their new plan, which is
of great assistance to small concerns or individuals. The corporation serves as
a healthy medium between such concerns and the public and is a unique, distinct
and strong factor in the upbuilding and development of this section of the
country.
Mr. Foshay married Miss Leota Hutchinson, a daughter of W. E. Hutchinson. whose
cousin and himself were the founders of Hutchinson, Kansas. Two children have
been born to Mr. and Mrs. Foshay: William W. and Julianne. Mr. Foshay is an
earnest and active member of St. Mark's Episcopal church, serving as chairman of
its scout committee and as one of the auxiliary vestry. He is a memberer of the
Lafayette Club and the Minneapolis Athletic Club and is identified with the
Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and the Masonic fraternity. He takes a
strong interest in the Boy Scouts, regarding them as one of the nation's
greatest assets, embodying the highest ideals of American citizenship, and is a
member of both the local and national councils. His life has been well spent,
char­acterized by the conservation of his forces and by the utilization of
opportunity, and his labors have ever been directed along those lines which have
for their object public improvement and the advancement of the general welfare.