He was the publisher of the Lithuanian weekly newspaper Lietuva and founder of A. Olszewski Bank.
Olšauskas used customer deposits to build offices and open other business ventures (Theater Milda, clothing shop, car dealership, residential real estate).
Olšauskas was born on June 13, 1863, in Aštruliai [lt], a small village near Liudvinavas, to a family of petty Lithuanian nobles.
[1] Due to poor health, he could not perform hard physical labor and searched for better means of living.
He convinced the new owner, Stasys Rakošius, to publish the first Lithuanian newspaper in Chicago Lietuva.
The first issue was published on December 6, 1892, but Rakošius sold the printing press to Vincas Žaliauskas who fired Olšauskas.
These included 28 books on fairytales, legends, novellas, 31 theater plays, 20 popular science works, 15 texts on history, ethnography, culture, and three dictionaries.
The business was going well and Olšauskas was able to buy out other owners of Lietuva remaining the sole shareholder of the printing press in 1901.
[11] In 1906, Olšauskas decided to build a three-floor house on the corner of 33rd and Halsted Street at a cost of $100,000 (equivalent to $3,391,111 in 2023).
[11] It housed not only the printing press and bank, but also a clothing store, medical offices, and rented apartments.
He used customer deposits for other business ventures – opening a clothing and a furniture store, establishing a car dealership, building residential houses, etc.
[12] Olšauskas was forced to sell the various businesses (including Lietuva) and personal assets at prices that were deflated due to the ongoing war.