Louis Barnett was born about 1850 in Kentucky. He founded a construction firm in Minneapolis that specialized in grain elevators and related facilities. In 1881, James Record became an employee in Barnett's construction firm and became a partner in 1885. The firm of Barnett & Record was one of the major contractors in the field of grain elevator and warehouse design and construction. Barnett served as a director of the Security National Bank of Minneapolis and the First & Security National Bank after its merger with First National Bank in 1915. He retired in 1916 and died on May 18, 1936, in Washington, DC.

James Record was born on April 15, 1857 in Franklin, Vermont. He moved to Lake City, Minnesota in 1874 and worked as a carpenter and contractor there and later in La Crosse, Wisconsin before moving to Minneapolis and going to work for Louis C. Barnett in 1881. In 1885 he became a partner and continued in the firm until 1902. That year, he formed the Minneapolis Steel & Machinery Company with L.S. and G.M. Gillette (subsequently known as Minneapolis Moline Power Implement Company). Record served as chairman of the board of the latter from 1929 to 1944. He died in Minneapolis on March 2, 1944.