Collection on the Twin City Machine Shop

Collection

Identifier: M/A 0204

Staff Only

Description of Contents

One box. The collection includes a brief history of the Nicollet Island written by Frank M. Schneider, plans showing specifications and measurements for steam engine parts, a book with handwritten entries detailing the standard foundry mixtures used in the foundry with their constituent elements and prices, and drawings for steam engine valves.

Dates

1882 - 1975

Creator

Twin City Machine Shop (Minneapolis, Minn.) (Organization)

Access Restrictions

The collection is available for use in Special Collections during the department's open hours.

History

The Twin City Machine Co. was started in 1900 as a partnership between Alfred Schneider and Joseph Garbett. The shop was located in the Power Building on Nicollet Island. The property was owned by the Ingenhut family. The shop moved to 527 2nd Avenue S.E. in 1930. The shop specialized in grinding and corrugating rolls for flour mills, feed mills, linseed oil mills and soybean mills. The shop also bored the cylinders for stationary steam engines, and made steel corrugating tools and did other custom machinery work.

The shop was incorporated in 1910 after the death of Joseph Garbett and the stock was divided between the two families. By 1939 Alfred Schneider and the sons of Joseph Garbett (Fred Garbett and Ben Garbett) had passed away. Alfred Schneider’s sons (Frank M. Schneider and his brother) purchased the stock from the Garbett heirs and ran the company until December 1973 when it was sold to Howard Creason.