Joseph Dart

Joseph Dart was an American businessman and entrepreneur associated with the grain industry, born in East Hampton, Connecticut, in 1799. He trained in a hat factory, moved to Buffalo, New York, in 1821 and opened a store trading hats, leather and fur, learning the Iroquoian languages of his Native American customers. After the panic of 1837 ended his store he turned to grain trading. In 1842 he conceived of a machine powered grain elevator, the first in America, known as Dart's Elevator, and later elevators helped make Buffalo the largest grain shipping port in the world. He was a founding member of the Buffalo Seminary and died in 1879.