1884 was a very important year for H. Gerstner & Sons. It was the year company founder Harry Gerstner was born. Some other very notable and interesting events were taking place around the country at this time: the Statue of Liberty was completed, Boston and New York were first linked by telephone, the Cincinnati Reds held their first game at Crosley Field, and Dayton, Ohio, had its first paved street. Harry Gerstner first started working when he left high school at age 17. He signed on as a woodworking apprentice to become a pattern-maker starting at a salary of six cents an hour. At the completion of his four-year apprenticeship, Harry received a one hundred dollar bonus and was earning ten cents an hour – top wages for a journeyman woodworker in the Dayton area.