In the mid 1780s, Oliver Evans invented an automated flour mill that included a grain elevator and hopper boy.
From the en.wikipedia.org
Albert says that when the elevator began to descend, the boy hit a button which stopped it and opened the doors between floors.
From the dailyherald.com
A young boy was taken by stretcher straight to an elevator.
From the washingtonpost.com
Then, when the boy was almost eight, a woman stepped out of the elevator into the apartment on East Sixty-second Street and he recognized her straightaway.
From the denverpost.com
But The New York Times reported in 1853 on the death of a 13-year-old boy who had been playing in the office at a print shop and got caught in the elevator mechanism.