ST. CLOUD OPPORTUNITIES - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR - ST. CLOUD OPPORTUNITIES
When I arrived on the scene to be the Chamber of Commerce Manager and CEO in 1953, I found that St. Cloud was no different then most rural communities in our State. Retail was the major business employer. Sure we had several outstanding manufacturing plants. But little or no effort was made to expand the employment based of manufacturing. In fact, I believe I was hired because in my I interview I stated, "What St. Cloud needs is more well planned retail promotion and a better program for farm to market roads." The Board of Directors at the time was mostly retailers.
At that time, in St. Cloud, there was a small, for profit Industrial Development Organization whose membership was made up of retailers and a former Mayor. They owned a small parcel of land in southwestern St. Cloud. This land is now occupied by McDowall Company and a bowling alley. During my first year on the job, I never witnessed any effort to promote industrial development and prospects were very few.
In 1954, L.K. McLeland (Mac), Division Manager for Northern State Power Company and President of the Chamber of Commerce told us about a new industrial development program with federal government financial support. The Manager of the electric power company in the Albert Lea Area was President of the new Non-Profit Organization of the community and was a person friend of McLeland's. Mac arranged for a small group from our Chamber to make a visit to Albert Lea.
We were very impressed with the Albert Lea Story. With the end of World War II, out federal government was concerned about the large number of veterans returning from the service without jobs waiting for them. Congress passed legislation in which they called for the forming of the Economic Development Administration. The first plan called for the selection of pilot programs in each State. Albert Lea was selected from Minnesota. They received a large federal grant which was used to form the Non-Profit organization and develop their first industrial park. When we visited Albert Lea, they were already very successful.
Job Titles:
- Division Manager for Northern State Power Company
- President of the Chamber of Commerce