About Joseph Dart
Joseph Dart (April 30, 1799 – September 28, 1879) was an American businessman and entrepreneur associated with the grain industry. He was well educated and at the age of 17 began an apprenticeship in a hat factory before managing one in 1819. Two years later in 1821, he moved to Buffalo, New York, and in the following year, opened a store trading hats, leather and fur. Among his customers were Native Americans, including Red Jacket. To facilitate communication, he learned the various Iroquoian languages of the local tribes. Dart remained in the trade until just before the panic of 1837, which resulted in a recession and the store collapsing. He shortly after turned his attention towards grain trading. Dart conceived of a machine-powered grain elevator in 1842, the first in America and known as Dart's Elevator. Other grain elevators were later built that helped make Buffalo a major port city and within fifteen years, the largest grain shipping port in the world. During his later years, he was a lumber dealer with his brother and was a founding member of the Buffalo Seminary. Dart married Dotha Dennison in 1830 and had seven children, several of whom died young. He lived in an elegant home during the latter years of his eighty year life, where he and his wife hosted elaborate balls and dinners. He died in September 1879 aged 80, having been described in "very good health" up until his last days. Alongside Scottish mechanical engineer Robert Dunbar, Dart oversaw construction of a steam-powered grain elevator, the first in America, dedicating around 10 years of his life to the business. Dart's elevator opened in June 1843 and in its first year of operation, 229,260 bushels of grain were unloaded. In 1863, Dart's grain elevator burned down and was replaced by what became known as "The Bennett Elevator", built on the same site.
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