George Washington Van Dusen (July 10, 1826–??) was a grain dealer who was one of the many businessmen to become rich from the milling boom in Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

 in the second half of the 19th century. Van Dusen was from a New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 family, and his father Laurence had been born in Byron Center, Genesee County, New York

Byron, New York

Byron is a town in Genesee County, New York, United States. It was named in honor of Lord Byron. The town is on the northern border of the county, and lies northeast of the city of Batavia. The population was 2,493 at the 2000 census. The local school district, Byron-Bergen Central School District...

.

In 1858, George Van Dusen began working as a grain buyer in Wisconsin

Wisconsin

Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...

. He followed the trade westward to Rochester, Minnesota

Rochester, Minnesota

Rochester is a city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and is the county seat of Olmsted County. Located on both banks of the Zumbro River, The city has a population of 106,769 according to the 2010 United States Census, making it Minnesota's third-largest city and the largest outside of the...

 where in 1865 he began building grain elevator

Grain elevator

A grain elevator is a tower containing a bucket elevator, which scoops up, elevates, and then uses gravity to deposit grain in a silo or other storage facility...

s and warehouse

Warehouse

A warehouse is a commercial building for storage of goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial areas of cities and towns. They usually have loading docks to load and unload...

s along railroad lines under his G.W. Van Dusen & Co. The Winona and St. Peter Railroad was completed through town to Kasson, Minnesota

Kasson, Minnesota

Kasson is a city in Dodge County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 5,931 at the 2010 census. The city is located 13 miles west of Rochester, Minnesota along U.S. Route 14 and is one of the endpoints of Minnesota State Highway 57. The Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad's main...

 that same year. Just east of Kasson was a settlement known as Bear Grove. Van Dusen built a warehouse there, and is credited with renaming the village to its present name of Byron

Byron, Minnesota

Byron is a city in Olmsted County, Minnesota, United States, approximately 5 miles west of Rochester on U.S. Route 14. It is surrounded by Kalmar Township. The population was 4,914 at the 2010 census....

 after the town of Port Byron, New York

Port Byron, New York

Port Byron is a village in Cayuga County, New York, United States. The population was 1,297 at the 2000 census. The village is believed to be named after Lord Byron.The Village of Port Byron is in the Town of Mentz and is north of Auburn, New York....

, where he once lived, though he may have also thought of his father's birthplace. The Chicago and North Western Railway

Chicago and North Western Railway

The Chicago and North Western Transportation Company was a Class I railroad in the Midwest United States. It was also known as the North Western. The railroad operated more than of track as of the turn of the 20th century, and over of track in seven states before retrenchment in the late 1970s...

 gained control of the Winona and St. Peter in 1867, and the line continued to grow westward.

In 1888, Van Dusen was president and general manager of both his eponymous company, then in control of more than 90 elevators stretching from Winona

Winona, Minnesota

Winona is a city in and the county seat of Winona County, in the U.S. State of Minnesota. Located in picturesque bluff country on the Mississippi River, its most noticeable physical landmark is Sugar Loaf....

 to Pierre, South Dakota

Pierre, South Dakota

Pierre is the capital of the U.S. state of South Dakota and the county seat of Hughes County. The population was 13,646 at the 2010 census, making it the second least populous state capital after Montpelier, Vermont...

, and the Star Eleveator Company. That year, the stock of the two companies was sold to English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 investors in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, and merged by 1889 with Charles M. Harrington's Minneapolis company to become Van Dusen-Harrington. This eventually became part of the Peavey Company, acquired by ConAgra in 1982.

Van Dusen was married three times. He married Mary Armstrong around 1848, Percis Barden around 1855, and then Nancy Barden on November 29, 1860.