Most People Have Never Seen These 19 Photos Taken During WWII In Minnesota
By Jo Magliocco|Published January 13, 2016
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Jo Magliocco
Author
Minnesota staff writer for Only in Your State and owner of Minnesota blog NorthGuide.co, I'm a Minneapolis transplant who loves my cats, camera, and local coffee. On the weekends I'm usually exploring the North Shore or making my way through the list of Minnesota's State Parks. Want to talk about MN or ask me a question? Tweet me @sotafiedjo!
Minnesota was, as most areas were, focused on production during WWII. We found these photos that give us a rare look into the lives and jobs of Minnesotans during the war, from the factories to the farms.
1. A defense worker at Northern Pump Company in Minneapolis.
2. This is Bernard L. Lukin, the 28-year-old son of a Danish woman and Norwegian man. He works in a machine shop making tools for war plants in Minneapolis.
5. A war production drive in Minneapolis. The labor management committees found that posters and streamers were more effective on moving objects. The committee in Minneapolis' Northern Pump Company put them on the forty-ton cranes.
6. Another part of the Northern Pump Company. They kept scoreboards in every department to keep employees involved in the progress of the war production drive. This is the gunmount welding department.
7. This is when the Northern Pump Company's 100th gun mount was completed. Employees had an impromptu celebration and the gun mount was decorated with red, white, and blue.
8. Peter Dockas, right, who transformed the basement of his appliance shop into a war industry, packages the last of 150 radio control devices manufactured for the Army Signal Corps. W.R. Stephens, left, Minnesota manager of the War Production Board (WPB) contract distributions branch, and H.C. Timberlake, former manager who helped Dockas get his contract, are watching.
12. Mr. H.E. Brandt of North Saint Paul is president of the Dobbins Manufacturing Company. He manufactures portable drinking fountains used on submarines and other navy vessels. He just developed an apparatus for extinguishing incendiary bombs.
17. This is Mr. Arthur Sven Brink and his family. Mr. Brink is a welder for an important Minneapolis war factory. His wife is Hilda, and their four children are Mary Jane (4), Gloria (7), Caren (10), and Ruth (12). Mr. Brink was born in Vesterjutland, Sweden and his wife was born in MN to a father from Vastmanland and a mother from Varmland. They have been married for thirteen years.
19. Mr. Brink keeps up with world news. He goes to work at 6am, and makes about $90 per week. He has been a welder for 15 years and at this new job for two months.
