Brian Mcmahon Chad Roberts, Roxanne Sands, James A
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RAMSEY COUNTY “Abide with Me” Grace Craig Stork, 1916 Rebecca A. Ebnet-Mavencamp —Page 10 HıstoryA Publication of the Ramsey County Historical Society Fall 2016 Volume 51, Number 3 A Workplace Accident John Anderson’s Fall from the High Bridge John T. Sielaff, page 3 Towering above the Mississippi River flood plain, St. Paul’s Smith Avenue High Bridge, seen here in a 1905 postcard, connected the city’s oldest residential neighborhood, West Seventh Street, with its newest at the time, Cherokee Heights, or the Upper West Side. John Anderson, a painter working on the bridge in 1902, fell and survived the accident. His story tells us much about the dangers in the workplace then and now. Photo by the Detroit Photographic Company, courtesy of the Minnesota Historical Society. RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY RAMSEY COUNTY President Chad Roberts Founding Editor (1964–2006) Virginia Brainard Kunz Editor Hıstory John M. Lindley Volume 51, Number 3 Fall 2016 RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY THE MISSION STATEMENT OF THE RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY BOARD OF DIRECTORS ADOPTED BY THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS ON JANUARY 25, 2016: James Miller Preserving our past, informing our present, inspiring our future Chair Jo Anne Driscoll First Vice Chair Carl Kuhrmeyer C O N T E N T S Second Vice Chair Susan McNeely 3 A Workplace Accident Secretary Kenneth H. Johnson John Anderson’s Fall from the High Bridge Treasurer John T. Sielaff William B. Frels Immediate Past Chair 10 “Abide with Me” Anne Cowie, Cheryl Dickson, Mari Oyanagi Grace Craig Stork, 1916 Eggum, Thomas Fabel, Martin Fallon, Rebecca A. Ebnet-Mavencamp John Guthmann, Susan Handley, Richard B. Heydinger, Jr., Janine Joseph, Sandy Kiernat, Judy Kishel, David Kristal, Robert W. Mairs, 18 “Production for Victory”: Father Kevin M. McDonough, Nancy W. The Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant in World War II McKillips, Lisa Dickinson Michaux, Jonathan H. Morgan, Robert Muschewske, Brian McMahon Chad Roberts, Roxanne Sands, James A. Stolpestad, Susan Vento, Jerry Woelfel. 25 Growing Up in St. Paul EDITORIAL BOARD Streetcars: A Way of Life Anne Cowie, chair, James B. Bell, Thomas H. DeAnne Marie Cherry Boyd, John Diers, Martin Fallon, John Guthmann, Lisa L. Heinrich, John M. Lindley, Publication of Ramsey County History is supported in part by a gift from Greg Mackey, James Miller, John Milton, Laurie M. Murphy, Robert Muschewske, Paul D. Clara M. Claussen and Frieda H. Claussen in memory of Henry H. Cowie Jr. Nelson, Jay Pfaender, David Riehle, Chad and by a contribution from the late Reuel D. Harmon Roberts, Steve Trimble, Mary Lethert Wingerd. HONORARY ADVISORY BOARD William Fallon, William Finney, George A Message from the Editorial Board Latimer, Joseph S. Micallef, Marvin J. Pertzik, James Reagan. n this issue, we are reminded how workplace conditions in Ramsey County reflect RAMSEY COUNTY COMMISSIONERS Isocial and political realities. Brian McMahon gives us a look at St. Paul’s Ford As- Commissioner Victoria Reinhardt, chair sembly Plant during World War II, when the facility was retooled for the war effort. Commissioner Toni Carter Commissioner Blake Huffman Many workers, including women, were hired to manufacture parts for Pratt & Whitney Commissioner Jim McDonough airplane engines and the M-8 armored car. John Sielaff details the story of John An- Commissioner Mary Jo McGuire derson, a painter who suffered severe injuries in a fall when he was painting the High Commissioner Rafael Ortega Commissioner Janice Rettman Bridge in 1902. In the days before Workers’ Compensation was enacted in Minnesota, Julie Kleinschmidt, manager, Anderson’s legal claim against his employer took a convoluted journey through the Ramsey County court system. Rebecca Ebnet-Mavencamp shares a social history of the Stork family, Ramsey County History is published quarterly who lived on Cleveland Avenue. Although Clinton Stork worked at the H.B. Fuller by the Ramsey County Historical Society, 323 Company, this story concentrates on family, especially the debilitating illness of Grace Landmark Center, 75 W. Fifth Street, St. Paul, MN 55102 (651-222-0701). Printed in U.S.A. Copy- Stork, examined through compassionate diary entries of her daughter. right © 2016, Ramsey County His torical So ciety. As a final note, don’t forget we have podcasts available too. Paul Nelson has a won- ISSN Number 0485-9758. All rights reserved. derful interview with former Mayor George Latimer, and his latest podcast takes a look No part of this publication may be reprinted or otherwise reproduced without written at one of our earliest and most interesting settlers, Harriet Bishop. Check them out at permission from the publisher. The Society www.rchs.com. assumes no responsibility for statements made by contributors. Fax 651-223-8539; e-mail address: Anne Cowie [email protected]; web site address: www.rchs.com Chair, Editorial Board 2 RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY “Production for Victory”: The Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant in World War II Brian McMahon ars are won on the factory floor as much as on the battlefield, and In the summer of 1940, Ford joined Americans were confident on both fronts as they entered World War Charles A. Lindbergh, the celebrated II. The army general in charge of purchasing said, “For when Hitler aviator, in supporting the America First W campaign, even as his company was re- put this war on wheels, he ran straight down our alley. When he hitched his ceiving military contracts. His ambiva- chariot to an internal combustion engine, he opened up a new battle front—a lence was demonstrated that year when front that we know well. It’s called Detroit.”1 he reversed an agreement his executives made with the government to build Rolls- Sixteen months before Pearl Harbor, the with support for the Nazis. Ford once Royce airplane engines because some Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant in St. declared, “To my mind, the word ‘mur- were intended for the British military Paul was already transitioning from mak- derer’ should be embroidered across the and not all were for American defensive ing automobiles to working on defense breast of every soldier in red letters.”4 He purposes. These engines were eventually projects. In August 1940, the Ford Motor also said, “I am opposed to war in every made by the Packard Motor Company.6 Company received a contract from the sense of the word. If war came here In February 1941, as the new plant for Pratt & Whitney Company to make air- and I were offered triple prices to manu- the Pratt & Whitney airplane engines was plane engine parts, over the strong objec- facture motor cars for military purposes being built with mostly federal funds at the tions of the United Automobile Workers I would burn down my plant before I River Rouge Plant in Dearborn, Michigan, Union (UAW), which had been unable would accept an order.”5 Ford was quoted as saying he “sincerely to organize Ford years after doing so at General Motors and Chrysler. The UAW accused Henry Ford of being hostile to labor, an anti-Semite, a Nazi-supporter and an unreliable defense partner.2 At the time, Ford was barred from bid- ding on government contracts because of refusal to comply with the National Labor Relations Act which President Franklin Delano Roosevelt had estab- lished to make it easier for unions to organize workers. Ford got around this prohibition with the Pratt & Whitney contract because the company was a sub- contractor, and not a direct contractor of the federal government.3 Henry Ford’s Antiwar Activism Henry Ford first faced charges of anti- Semitism in the 1920s, and these accu- sations reemerged in 1938 when he ac- cepted the Grand Cross of the German Eagle, a medal created by Adolf Hitler. Ford’s pacifism at a time when public opinion was moving toward supporting Three women operating industrial drill presses work on the pump machine that was a part of Great Britain and France in their war the Pratt & Whitney airplane engine. Note the employee badges with photo IDs pinned to their with Germany was also widely conflated overalls. Photo courtesy of Brian McMahon. 18 RAMSEY COUNTY HISTORY hoped” that neither England nor the Axis powers would win the war. “There is no righteousness in either cause . ”7 Harold L. Ickes, Secretary of the Interior, was un- doubtedly speaking for Roosevelt when he responded, “We have heard these unwor- thy words from men like Henry Ford and Colonel Lindbergh. As well might these have said that as between the kidnapper and his intended victim, they do not care which may win; as well might have said that as between the man who drops incen- diary bombs on defenseless cities and the women and children he kills from the air as they vainly seek safety, they can see no moral distinction and so they do not care which may win.”8 Ford was unusual among manufactur- ers in opposing military preparedness. Most industrialists welcomed military contracts which were often on a “cost- plus” basis, and generally included fund- ing for plant improvements and worker training. While Henry Ford’s pacifist Two women sand cam supports for a Pratt & Whitney engine, wearing protective shields. Most views were rare for an industrialist, they women working on machinery also wore head scarves or hats, apparently of their own selec- were not completely outside the American tion. Photo courtesy of Brian McMahon. mainstream. According to Gallup polls, most Americans opposed entry in the World War, and Minnesota was the second continuing to drag his feet, Roosevelt fi- Workers at the Twin Cities Assembly most isolationist state in the country after nally threatened to take over the company Plant in St. Paul ratified the labor contract Wisconsin.9 Labor leaders also were gen- to fulfill the military orders.11 a month later and received a charter estab- erally opposed to the war because of ideo- David Halberstam, in The Reckoning, lishing UAW Local 879.