Bio of FOSTER, Robert O. (b.1858), 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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ROBERT O. FOSTER - Vol II, pg 406-409
Back in the early days of Minnesota, when the city of Minneapolis was little
more than a hamlet straggling along the banks of the river, when most of the
ground now covered by the city was primitive wilderness, two families left the
state of Maine, independently, came to Minnesota and preempted adjoining farms
where Sixteenth avenue, South, and Franklin avenue now intersect. They were the
Foster and Averill families. Andrew J. Foster and Mary W. Averill there became
acquainted, and finally were married in 1849; and it is notable that they were
the first couple married in Minneapolis. They were the parents of Robert O.
Foster, who was born in this city, December 7, 1858. So the Foster family is
entitled to be included among the pioneers in this part of the state, and Robert
O. Foster is one of the few men in the city who was born here and has seen the
city grow from a small village to a metropolis - a growth, too, which he has
helped along.
After passing through the local schools Robert O. Foster entered the University
of Minnesota, but his early inclinations were strongly toward a business career,
and after two years of the academic course in the university, he gave up his
studies and started out as a teacher of the piano. In this work he was very
successful and also laid the foundation of many friendships which are maintained
to this day. In 1882 he formed the firm of Foster Brothers & Whitcomb, dealers
in musical instru­ments, in the old Syndicate building. In 1890 that firm
developed into the house of Foster & Waldo, which continued with great success
for nearly thirty years. On September 26, 1919, Mr. Foster bought out Mr. Waldo,
became sole proprietor of the business and has since conducted it alone,
although he retains the old firm name. He has a most attractive establishment at
No. 811 Nicollet avenue, and specializes in the sale of pianos.
On September 26, 1906, Robert O. Foster married Miss Mamie Keidel, whom he had
known from her infancy. They have three children: Robert O., Kenneth and Mary.
They reside in their beautiful home, Wabunheim, on Lake Minnetonka. Mr. Foster's
clubs are the Minneapolis Athletic Club, the Automobile Club and the Minnetonka
Country Club. His religion is to do good; his doctrine, that the great forces of
life and the universe are truth and love.
A mere record of events and their dates cannot constitute a biography of such a
man as Robert O. Foster. The motive power behind his achievements, the forces
that have made him successful, his mentality and character are absorbingly
interest­ing and peculiarly instructive. He is a man of unusual vigor both
physically and mentally. At the age of sixty-five he is still a young man, with
the ambition and determination to achieve, in the years to come, even more
greatly than he has in the past. He employs a large force of salesmen, to whom
he gives a talk every week-day morning, and, daily, the keynotes of his
instructions are Truth and Altruism. He loves the world and men, and to step
into his office is to be assured that he loves children, for their pictures are
its adornment. He exhales energy and clean, vigorous thought, and he is a living
refutation of the old legend that an artistic temperament is useless in
business. He has one of the best poetical minds in the country and he is one of
its really successful men. He has written some poems of a high order and he has
built up a big business house with nothing to start on. His mind revels in the
sublimity of the universe and yet misses no smallest detail in the management of
an extensive business. Public office has no attraction for him, but he takes a
keen interest in the progress of the city and has given time and appreciated
services to the promotion of civic enterprises of merit. He is for better and
bigger things in every way, and in addition to being one of the best of
Americans he is also a citizen of the world.