#Weymu40 – The Contractors

The Charles A. Weyerhaeuser Memorial Museum.
The Charles A. Weyerhaeuser Memorial Museum.

Throughout the series of blog posts regarding the 40th anniversary of The Charles A. Weyerhaeuser Memorial Museum, Foster Dunwiddie, the architect who designed the museum, has been mentioned numerous times. But Foster didn’t build the museum all by himself. Enter, the contractors and subcontractors.

The general contractor for the museum was Loeffel-Engstrand Co. of Hopkins, MN. The mechanical contractor was McDowall Company of St. Cloud. McDowall was in charge of the heating and air conditioning (HVAC) system. The electrical contractor was originally Commercial Mechanical Services, Inc., out of Glenwood, but this company went bankrupt and Hauer Brothers Electric of Little Falls finished the job. The engineer on the project was Max Oftedahl of Oftedahl, Lock, and Brodston.

There were subcontractors involved as well.

Fireplace brick laid by Pat Burns for the Weyerhaeuser Museum.
Fireplace brick laid by Pat Burns for the Weyerhaeuser Museum.

Pat Burns of Little Falls laid the brick for the fireplaces and chimneys. He had to make a special tool to create the beaded mortar joints required for the project.

The plumbing was done by Gorham Construction, Inc. Fransen Painting and Decorating was in charge of painting. L & K Redi-Mix Concrete, Inc. of Little Falls surfaced the parking lot and driveway with bituminous and crushed the granite used around the courtyards. Lampert Building Center of Little Falls installed the split rail fencing. Hammerbeck Nursery of Little Falls did landscaping.

Someone had the foresight to ask for the names of workmen on the museum project. While I’m sure this isn’t comprehensive, here are some of the individuals who had a hand in building the museum.

From Loeffel-Engstrand Co: Jim Boucher, Harold Erwin, Archie Jones, Virgil Ross, George Dahlin, Alois Panek, Wayne Gall, Arnold Nagel, and John Juetten.

From McDowall Company: Leslie Betz, Ben Bechtold, Gerald Vogt, Allen Norstebon, John Samuel, Ronald Hurd, and Walter Beuning.

From Commercial Mechanical Services: Hector Cote and Frank Vittorio.

From Hauer Brothers: Roy Hauer.

A lot of careful labor went into the construction of the Weyerhaeuser Museum thanks to all of these contractors and subcontractors.

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Celebrating the 40th anniversary of The Charles A. Weyerhaeuser Memorial Museum.

 

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