• In 1930 lived in a $12,000 home with his family and a servant by the name of Juan Lido. This home, in Alameda, is presently a bed and breakfast called the “Krusi Mansion.”
Was a veteran of World War I.
Was Chief Engineer at the San Francisco Bridge Company, with offices at 46 & 47 Review Building, San Francisco.4531

• Hermann Krusi III was born in Worcester, Mass., on July 23, 1858.  An understanding of his personality is impossible without some knowledge of Professor Hermann Krusi I, his grandfather, and of Professor Herman Krusi II, his father.  The philosophy of love, charity and kindliness handed down by these forebears must, in its turn, be traced to the philosophical contributions of Heinrich Pestalozzi, the world famous Swiss educator and philosopher, with whom Hermann Krusi I was associated, being his earliest assistant at this school at Yverdon, Switzerland.
The Pestalozzian "method" in teaching was of great importance, as was his philosophy that man was essentially noble and that only lack of education -- moral, mental and physical -- starting in earliest infancy brought out the evil in man.
With the French Revolution followed by the Napoleonic Wars, it was hard for people to rise to the level of such a philosophy, but his able assistances, Krusi, Neiderer and others, were dedicated disciples.
When Herman Krusi I left the Pestalozzian Institute at Yverdon, having served with this school from 1800 to 1816, he founded his own school -- also located at Yverdon -- where Hermann Krusi II was born on June 24, 1817.  The school moved to Trogen in 1822, and with it moved Pestalozzi's theories which motivated the classrooms from the 6:00 a.m. starting bell to the end of the day.  Here Hermann Krusi II, who was a godson of both Heinrich Pestalozzi and Johann Neiderer, and whose baptismal name was Johann Heinrich Hermann Krusi, received his education.  Little wonder that he later traveled to Germany, England, and finally to the United States, carrying with him the teachings of Pestalozzi.
With the formation of the Oswego State Normal School, Professor E.A. Sheldon turned to Hermann Krusi II asking him to fill the post of Professor of Philosophy of Education.  He also conducted classes in Geometry and Modern Languages.
Although his only son, Hermann Krusi III (Hermann Krusi II had two daughters who died at an early age), was born in Massachusetts, the family home was in Oswego.  It was there that Hermann III lived until he went to Cornell University in 1878.  He graduated in Civil Engineering with the class of 1882.  After graduation he started to teach, but soon accepted a position with the King Bridge Co. of Cleveland, Ohio, where he met George W. Catt, a bridge and contracting engineer.  Here Hermann Krusi obtained practical design experience, but he enjoyed actual field construction most, talking to the laborers, mechanics and foremen.  I once the the story of one of the field engineers --it could have been Catt-- watching him at the drawing board and giving practical pointers on design details.  Krusi asked, "I guess you are pretty anxious to get the blue prints of this bridge," and was amazing at the foreman's rejoinder, "Hell no, that bridge is already finished.  I just wanted to see if we built it the way you are drawing it."
In 1876 John G. McMullen had changed his business sign from "John G. McMullen, the Live Carpenter" to "John G. McMullen, the Honest Contractor" to the "San Francisco Bridge Company," all in rapid succession.  Having been awarded the contracts to build several wood and steel highway bridges, he felt a graduate engineer in his organization might help business, particularly as county supervisors were awarding bridges on on the contractor's own design and bid price.  McMullen wrote the College of Civil Engineering at Cornell in 1885 and selected Hermann Krusi on the basis of a photograph and a letter submitted in applying for the position.  Hermann Krusi was not only adept at designing these bridges, figuring cots, and starting construction, but was also a master in selling supervisors (in the event his price was not the lowest) that his design was superior and worth the additional money.  I once asked the late Bill Healy of Healey Construction Company if this were true and he said, "No, not really, but Hermann Krusi could draw in the prettiest streams and rocks and his bridges always caught the supervisor's eye."
As the San Francisco Bay region abounded in shoal water it was a natural place for the development of the hydraulic dredge and for some years the Company was named the "San Francisco Bridge and Dredging Co."
In 1885 George W. Catt was also bidding on highway bridges in California and in 1886 joined McMullen and Krusi.  The triumvirate later found the "Puget Sound Bridge and Dredging Co.," the "British Columbia Bridge and Dredging Co.," the "Atlantic Gulf & Pacific Co. of New York" and the "Atlantic Gulf & Pacific Co. of Manila."  For some years these companies were joined under the name of "Atlantic Gulf & Pacific Co." but with the death of Mr. Catt in 1905 it was decided to decentralize, each unit of the merged company returning to its original name.  Krusi was already preparing for retirement (he retired in 1910) so he took a percentage in the stock of each of the four companies (British Columbia Bridge & Dredging Co. having been liquidated).  Despite the varying fortunes of these contracting companies, and the war years which precluded any earnings by the Manila Company, Krusi was assured of a reasonably uniform income.
Herman Krusi married Ida Clawiter, daughter of a 1849 (Edward Clawiter swam ashore from a sailing ship at the news gold was discovered in California.  His fiancee joined him, making the trip via sailing ship around Cape Horn) family, on Feb. 9, 1887 in Alameda, California.  Here they established what was to be their headquarters for life, at 2033 Central Avenue, and here their children Hermann (died in infancy), Robert, Maryly, LeRoy and Priscilla were born-- the latter on the day Admiral Dewey returned to San Francisco after the Battle of Manila Bay.
McMullen left immediately thereafter for Manila as there was much government work to be done, including dredging the outer harbor, building a breakwater, filling the unhealthy moat around the Walled City (Intramuros), etc.  But as the climate did not agree with him, it was Krusi who moved to Manila.  Retaining his Alameda residence, he returned to California on alternate years and his wife, Ida, with some or all of their children, visited Manila on the other years.
Hermann Krusi's work in Manila and his accomplishments with Filipino labor are perhaps his principal call to fame.  Speaking excellent Spanish, he was an instant success with the old Spanish families, many of whom regarded Americans as not far removed from barbarians.  But when they offered their advice on obtaining Chinese labor under contract, due to the laziness and undependability of Filipino labor, in order to establish a quarry on Bataan and carry on the less skilled jobs in Manila.  Krusi had other ideas.  He made a study of the temperment of the Filipino laborer, his wife, his home life, his likes and dislikes.  The Atlantic, Gulf & Pacific Co., as a result, built construction camps and employed Filipino labor.  These camps became so popular that wives would not tolerate their husbands shirking, with the possibility of dismissal and losing their new found way of life.  Krusi became known as the first person to successfully use Filipino labor.  It seems a far cry from early 1908 and the thought that Philippine labor was unusable, to the present Atlantic, Gulf & Pacific Co. with its many thousand employees, almost all Filipinos, including Filipino engineers, draftsmen, machinists, foundry men, construction superintendents, equipment operators, etc. etc.
In 1908 Hermann Krusi left Manila to make his headquarters in New York as McMullen had retired to his estate at South Norwalk.  But the commuting by steamer between New York and Manila was slow and tedious.  He tried the trans-Siberian railroad but this was little faster and much more tedious.  In 1910 McMullen returned to the New York office of Atlantic, Gulf & Pacific Co. and Krusi returned to Manila.  Soon thereafter, he left Wickam Quinan in charge, as President, and retired to his old home in Alameda.
The old family residence was completely rebuilt, the children were established in school, and later married.  Hermann and Ida spent the next 30 years in pursuit of their favorite hoppy-- doing unto others as they would have others do unto them.  And they reaped a rich reward.  They became beloved by the people of Alameda, young and old.  Hermann served as director of the Alameda Municipal Electric Light Dept. (now Bureau of Electricity).  This became a very profitable municipal investment.  With some of the profits, and with the cooperation of the Mayor and City Council, he was able to buy land on Bay Farm Island and established one of the first municipal golf courses.  The original 18 hole course has been doubled and this also has become a profitable investment.
Being an ardent golfer, he was asked to drive the first ball on the new course before a considerable group of spectators.  This ball he sliced into the bay-- not far from the scene of the dredging work which, underhis direction, had made Alameda an island in 1902.
Ida M. Krusi was vitally interested in the children of Alameda and playgrounds for these children.  When the City's playground projects seemed to be lagging, she purchased three blocks for use as a park.  This was named "Krusi Park" by vote of the Council.  After the death of Ida Krusi in 1939, the park was enlarged.  In 1955 a very modern fenced in area for children under six was constructed and dedicated as the "Ida M. Krusi Tiny Tot Area."
After Ida's death, Hermann Krusi's life was half gone, so much had the two lived as one.  Herman Krusi III died in August of 1940, after a very brief illness.  His interest in life continued to the very end.  In July, 1940 he traveled to witness the dedication of the Lake Washington Floating Bridge, constructed in the shops of the Puget Sound Bridge & Dredging Co.  After this dedication he wished to continue traveling on to Banff, Lake Louise and Jasper Parks.  This trip would have been a strenuous one for a younger man, but he went anyhow, and two weeks after his return he was gone, mourned, as was Ida, by so many, many friends.4531

• 1930 Census: Alameda, Alameda, California. Age 71, b MA. Age 25 at 1st marriage. Father b Switzerland; mother b ME.3638