Bio of WEESNER, Harvey R. (b.1866), Hennepin Co., MN
=========================================================================
USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information
on the Internet, material may be freely used by non-commercial entities,
as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is
obtained from the contributor of the file.
These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or
presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to
use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written
consent of the contributor, OR the legal representative of the submitter,
and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent.

If you have found this file through a source other than the MNArchives 
Table Of Contents you can find other Minnesota related Archives at:
http://www.usgwarchives.net/mn/mnfiles.htm
Please note the county and type of file at the top of this page to find 
the submitter information or other files for this county.
FileFormat by Terri--MNArchives

Made available to The USGenWeb Archives by: Laura Pruden
Submitted: June 2003
=========================================================================
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
========================================================
submitted by Laura Pruden, email Raisndustbunys@aol.com
========================================================

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


Vol II, pg 254-257
HARVEY R. WEESNER
Among the large manufacturing concerns which have won for Minneapolis its
position as the industrial center of the Northwest is that of the Wabash Screen
Door Company, of which Harvey R. Weesner is president and treasurer, and the
fact that he has been chosen as head of a business of this magnitude is proof of
his keen sagacity and superior ability as an executive. He was born at Wabash,
Indiana, October 24, 1866, and his parents, Clark W. and Anna E. (Leeson)
Weesner, are also natives of the Hoosier state. For many years the father
successfully engaged in the practice of law at Wabash and for two terms he
served as clerk of the circuit court, while for one term he filled the office of
mayor, discharging the duties of these offices with efficiency and
conscientiousness. Mr. and Mrs. Weesner are still residents of that city, in
which they are widely known and highly esteemed.
Harvey R. Weesner received a public school education and later took a business
course at Eastman's Business College, Poughkeepsie, New York. After completing
his studies he spent about a year in the office of the clerk of the circuit
court, acting as assistant to his father. He then obtained employment with the
firm of B. Walter & Company, manufacturers of table slides, remaining with them
for a year, and on the 1st of August, 1888, he entered the service of the Wabash
Screen Door Company, in the capacity of bookkeeper and shipping clerk. He was
gradually advanced through the various departments of the undertaking,
discharging to the best of his ability each task assigned him and acquiring a
comprehensive understanding of each phase of the business. At length he became
an officer of the company, serving first as secretary, then as vice president
and since 1915 he has acted as president and treasurer. He displays marked
administrative ability and foresight in control of the business, securing in its
operation the highest degree of efficiency with a minimum expenditure of time,
labor and material, and has greatly enlarged the scope of the undertaking.
The Wabash Screen Door Company was established at Wabash, Indiana, in 1884,
being capitalized at ten thousand dollars, and the business was conducted in
that city until 1891, when removal was made to Rhinelander, Wisconsin, where it
was operated for ten years. In December, 1901, the plant was destroyed by fire
and in 1902 the company was reorganized and recapitalized as a Minnesota
corporation. The business was then located in Minneapolis and the firm utilized
two temporary plants until the completion of its new factory in the spring of
1903. The concern has two buildings, one of which is eighty by four hundred and
forty feet in dimensions and the other eighty by three hundred feet, exclusive
of the wing. They occupy twenty acres of ground and are situated on the line of
the Omaha Railroad. The firm manufactures Wabash screens, stove boards and
washboards and has established a branch at Memphis, Tennessee, of practically
the same size as its Minneapolis plant, while a sales office is also maintained
in Chicago, Illinois. The company's output is shipped to all parts of the United
States and this is the largest concern of the kind in the Northwest. The
officers of the company are: H. R. Weesner, president and treasurer; W. J.
Donahue, vice president; C. H. Wilkes, secretary; and M. H. Otto, manager.
On the 9th of November, 1887, Mr. Weesner was united in marriage to Miss Ollie
A. Hoover of Wabash, Indiana, and they have become the parents of three
children: Beulah W., the wife of Frank E. Struthers of Minneapolis; Louise, who
married Harold G. Huey, also a resident of this city; and Donald.
Mr. Weesner is a thirty-second degree Mason and a member of Tripoli Shrine of
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and he is also identified with the Minneapolis Club, the
Manufacturers Club, the Interlachen Country Club, the Automobile Club and the
St. Anthony Commercial Club. He is an active working member of the Civic &
Commerce Association, being vice president of the Industrial Division, and he is
a factor in financial circles. He was one of the founders of the East Side State
Bank formed in 1906, which was during 1916 consolidated with the St. Anthony
Falls Bank, the latter being taken over by the First National Bank in 1922, and
he is a director of the First National Bank and the Minneapolis Trust Company.
He has ever been actuated by the spirit of progress and each step in his career
has marked an advance. His success is the result of intense application,
ceaseless watchfulness of opportunity, self-confidence and a readiness to assume
responsibility, and his constantly expanding powers have placed him with the
foremost representatives of industrial interests in this city.