Carl Strandlund

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Carl Strandlund (1899-1974) was a Swedish-born American inventor and entrepreneur. Strandlund held over 150 farm implement patents through his work at the Minneapolis-Moline tractor company including the creation of rubber tires for tractors. Strandlund also invented manufacturing techniques to build non-warping metal plates for tanks during World War II, created air conditioning systems for movie theaters, and invented a wallpaper-removing machine. Strandlund was also a sports enthusiast and gambler who owned racehorses and offered pointers to the University of Minnesota football coach on winning strategies after studying the team.

Strandlund was most noted for inventing and promoting the porcelain-enameled steel Lustron home to help address the housing shortage after World War II. The homes were built 1948 - 1950 at a large assembly plant in Columbus, Ohio, through financing from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation. The Lustron plant assembly line was some 9 miles long and the plant consumed more power than the rest of the entire city of Columbus. Mismanagement, politics, and corruption were blamed for the downfall of Lustron, which shut down amid foreclosure and bankruptcy in 1953. In a September 12, 1982, Minneapolis Tribune article, Strandlund's widow Clara related how Strandlund reacted to the closure of Lustron: "He was physically and mentally destroyed," she said. "Everything we had went. They took everything but our home.” As of 2004, the majority of the 2498 Lustron homes built are still standing today.