Born in 1821 into a poor family on the east side of Lake George, Henry Crandall became a wealthy lumberman, retired at age 59, and until his death in 1913 gave generously of his money. According to legend, while visiting workmen building this monument in 1899, he responded to a remark that he would one day be forgotten by leaving his footprint in the cement with a removed shoe and stocking. The five-point star atop the monument matches the log mark stamped on his logs before they were floated down the Hudson River to the mill, one of the identifying marks used to distinguish ownership. In Glens Falls, he donated the land for the library, established a fund that still provides for it, and created a Boys Club to help local youth. Known as a hard worker and advocate of saving money, he started a savings account for each boy with $25 and promised $100 at age 21 to each boy who added $37.50 from his own labor while obeying strict rules, including abstaining from liquor, swearing, beer, and tobacco, shunning bad habits, bad company, and bad resorts, and working diligently for his own success. On his 92nd birthday, days before his death, he said that no boy in the city was in poorer circumstances than he had been when he began life, but that anyone could succeed by avoiding bad habits and cultivating the habit of saving money.