OTIS, CHARLES AUGUSTUS, JR. (9 July 1868-9 Dec. 1953), industrialist who played a brief but pivotal role in the evolution of Cleveland newspapers, and son of Mary Shepard and CHAS. A. OTIS, Sr., graduated from Yale's Sheffield Scientific School and in 1893 returned to Cleveland as a steel broker with Otis, Hough & Co.
The OTIS ELEVATOR COMPANY can trace its origins to 1853, when Elisha Graves Otis introduced the first safety passenger elevator at the Crystal Palace Convention in New York City. His invention impressed spectators at the convention, and the first passenger elevator was installed in New York City in 1856.