The Long History of the USS Muskegon-- Part 2

The USS Muskegon was a Tacoma-Class patrol frigate which was much faster than its Navy cousin, the destroyer escort.

It was originally designed to combat submarines, but by 1944, when the Muskegon went to sea, the U-boat threat along the U.S. coasts was essentially over.  The Muskegon escorted an occasional convoy to Boston and sometimes went out on anti-submarine patrol.

It remained on duty in the Atlantic for years after the war.  At one point it was kind of a marker buoy for planes flying across the Atlantic.  After that, it went to the Coast Guard, the French Navy where it served as an unarmed weather ship, the Mermoiz until the late 1950s when it was sold for scrap.

There is still a USS Muskegon in the U.S. Navy, a harbor tug launched at Slidell, Louisiana, in 1962.

--GreGen

The Long History of the USS Muskegon-- Part 1

From the July 22, 2013, M Live "Lookback: The long history of the USS Muskegon" by Dave LeMieux.

The USS Muskegon was launched July 25, 1943, in Superior, Wisconsin, and had a crew of about 130.  It was launched in record time, cost $1.7 million, was 310 feet long and could cruise at 20 knots.

Muskegons first Gold Star mother of World War II, Mrs. David Hopkins, christened it.  her son, Homer David Hopkins had died on the USS Arizona that day Pearl Harbor was attacked.

It was Patrol Frigate 24 and was commissioned February 1944 in New Orleans.  Her crew referred to their ship as the "Mighty Musk" though the ship had never been to Muskegon, Michigan, its namesake.  Many of its crew was from the Grand Haven Coast Guard Training Station.

Seaman 2nd class Paul Meyers remembers, "Life on board out patrol frigate follows the pattern of every Navy ship, no matter where-- lots of watches, lots of work and the general alarm clanging in he middle of the night to send all hands to battle stations on the run."

--GreGen

Continuing With Muskegon During WW II: La Colonia Housing-- Part 2

Continued from Saturday.

Estevan Ramirez was one of scores of Latino men recruited from the sugar beet fields in the Saginaw area to work at Campbell, Wyant and Cannon during World War II.

They were provided with good jobs and housing at Ryerson Heights. Many more came as word got around.

Ryerson Heights Housing was only in existence for nine years. In 1954, the last one story barrack-like units were razed and residents scattered. Many of the Latinos remained in Muskegon.

--GreGen

Continuing With Muskegon During World War II: La Colonia Housing-- Part 1

From the Jan. 3. 2008 M-Live All Michigan "Viva La Colonia" by Susan Harrison Wolffis of the Muskegon Chronicle.

Ryerson Heights Housing was built in 1943 to accommodate World War II defense plant workers and their families. There were forty or so Hispanic families clustered in one section of the 375 unit federal housing project called Ryerson Heights along Ryerson Creek on Getty Street. These families referred to their area of Ryerson Heights as La Colonia, the Colony.

Ryerson Heights was one of four federal housing projects built in Muskegon and Muskegon Heights: Ruddiman Terrace, Forest Homes and Fairview Homes.

 I've written about Fairview Homes, the black units, earlier.

--GreGen

Latinos In Muskegon

From the Latinos Working for the Future site.

There is a book titled "A New Home in Michigan: The Mexican-American Experience in Muskegon." Many of the World War II Latino workers located in the Ryerson Heights Housing Project, often referred to as La Colonia.

 Many of these people had originally made their living in Texas as migrant workers.

--GreGen

Muskegon Heights: Muskegon's Black Experience-- Part 2: Fairview Housing

Fairview Housing had 100 units with 100% occupancy with over 1,700 black residents. By 1950, that number had risen to 7,382. Before Fairview was built, many of the Blacks even slept in box cars.

In 1943, a court ordered that Fairview have city water and sewer. These units, althought originally intended to be temporary, lasted until 1961.

Doesn't sound like a very nice place to have lived.

 --GreGen

Muskegon Heights: Muskegon's Black Experience-- Part 1: "Hot Beds"

From the Muskegon, Michigan site by Dr. James Jackson, Director of the Museum of African-American History in Muskegon, Michigan.

During World War II, Muskegon became a major material supplier of the war effort. Large numbers of black workers from the South were hired and brought to the city to provide cheap labor.

Temporary housing was constructed. When the war ended, these blacks were in effect stranded. Muskegon did not welcome them.

Federal law forced recruitment in the South. Sleeping for these workers often consisted of a bed rented for eight hours according to one's shifts (shifts at local plants were 24-hours-a-day with three shifts). Such housing was referred to as a "Hot Bed." Many of these were located on Pine Street. Some workers even slept in public parks.

More to Come. --GreGen

Muskegon World War I Plants and Housing

Not only was Muskegon the "Arsenal of Democracy" in World War II, but it also played a role in World War I in which the city's main war production plants were Continental Motor, Lingerman Steel & Machinery Co. and Brunswick, Balke, Collander Co., //// They all did war work. ///// In addition, there were two major 1919 Housing Projects: the 248 detached units of the Schoenberg Tract and 30 detached units at the McGraft Tract (on the McGraft farm). //// I doubt that any of these two tracts were the ones was the Kissell home (Feb. 14th post). The Kissell home was detached and moved to Casnovia, Michigan, at some point after World War II. //// My Next Post on This Blog Will Be #1000!! --GreGen

Muskegon's USS Silversides Submarine Museum

The USS Silversides (SS-236) was built at Mare Navy Yard in Vallejo, California, and commissioned December 15, 1941. The Silversides is credited with sinking the third most ships of any Allied submarine during the war, with 23. Only the USS Tang and USS Taulog sank more. //// After the war, it was stationed at Chicago and used by the US Naval Reserve until 1969 and then went to Muskegon in 1987. Today it is a submarine museum. //// Right now, it has a new USS Flier submarine exhibit, a submarine that was sunk in the war. //// --GreGen

Muskegon in World War II: Naval Activities

In 1941, the Continental Aviation and Engineering Corporation built a new plant in Muskegon. /

From U.S. Naval Activities WW II by State.

MUSKEGON NAVAL CONTRACTS: Brunswick-Balke-Collande Co., Campbell- Wynant Cannon Foundry Co., Continental Motors Corporation, Kaydon Engineering, Muskegon Meter Specialties Co., Sealed Power Corporation, West Michigan Steel Foundry, and Anaconda Wire and Cable Company.

In addition, Muskegon had a Resident Inspector of Naval Material and a Resident Representative of the Bureau of Aeronautics.

--GreGen

Muskegon, the "Arsenal of Democracy"-- Part 2

Later Continental had to construct a new aircraft engine plant building to make Rolls-Royce Merlin liquid-cooled engines for the British Spitfire fighters, the planes that saved Britain. //// THE MAGNOLIA CONNECTION //// Recruiters from city factories roamed far and wide across the United States to find workers. They especially went to Kentucky and Tennessee to find poor Southern whites and blacks and sent them by train to Muskegon. Also, a lot of blacks came from Magnolia, Arkansas, and High Point, North Carolina. As a result, Muskegon's minority population increased seven times higher during the war. //// Muskegon was also the first U.S. city to be honored with the "M" flag (for manufacturing) in 1944. The city also a had a ship named after it, the USS Muskegon, a patrol frigate in the Atlantic Ocean. //// Lots of War Effort. --GreGen

Muskegon, the "Arsenal of Democarcy"-- Part 1

From the Dec. 6, 2009, M Live, Muskegon Chronicle "Muskegon was the 'Arsenal of Democracy' during World War II" by David Kello. //// The Continental Motor Co., at its wartime peak, employed 9,000 workers in 1944, manufacturing automobile, tank and aircraft engines for the U.S. and British military. Muskegon was a major industrial city in Michigan even before the war, but really ramped up as war approached. //// Continental Motors (later Teledyne and now L3 Communications) workers had already tripled in force to 3,250 some six months before Pearl Harbor. //// Other factories in Muskegon involved in the war effort were Sealed Power, Norge, Muskegon Piston Ring and CWC. Kaydon started in 1941 and made bearings. Continental received a $11.4 million contract for auto engines from the government. Later, the British ordered 6,000 tank engines. //// More to Come. --GreGen

To Make a Long Story Short

Back on the 14th, I wrote about the newly-found love letters from a couple living in Muskegon during the war. I started doing more research and that ended up taking a good three hours, which explains a difficulty with all my blogs. //// I start off with an article and as I dig deeper, it gets more and mopre interesting. As I already said, I had heard of Muskegon, Michigan, but had no idea about even where it was located, much less its role in World War II. //// What I found was a city whose experiences were much like those of Wilmington, NC, and almost on as big a stage as that southern town, other than fewer, if any, military bases and the shipbuilding, but from what I found out, it could easily be America's second World War II City in the future. //// --GreGen

Muskegon, Michigan

I had to look the town up as I was unfamiliar with it. It is a city of 38,400 and the largest city in Michigan on the Lake Michigan shore. //// It is the home of the USS Silversides Submarine Museum. Also located there are the LST-393 and the USCG Cutter McLane and the SS Milwaukee Clipper, a famous car ferry. //// The USS Silversides is hosting a World War II Lecture Series from Jan. 6th to April 2014 from 6-8 PM every Monday. //// Some interesting lectures are MARCH 3: "Muskegon-- The Arsenal of Democracy; MARCH 10th: "The Air War Over the Pacific and Muskegon's Ike Kepford; and APRIL 21st: "The USS Flier. //// I'd Sure Like to Attend These. --GreGen

How Did the Home Get From Muskegon to Casnovia?

That got me interested in the story. I have done a lot of research on Wilmington, North Carolina, and its wartime experience with the thousands of workers who came ans where they were housed. Perhaps there was a big war industry in Muskegon and this could be classified wartime housing? I had to delve further into it. //// Perhaps Edward Kissel served in the military and these letters were written to Virginia from overseas. She might have worked at a war industry (perhaps a Rosie the Riveter?) I Yahooed Muskegon and found a not-complete list of servicemen from Muskegon County at the Genealogical Society. It didn't have Edward Kissel on the list (but again, they even admitted it wasn't complete). Maybe they both worked at a war-time industry? //// I'll See What I Can Find About Muskegon During the War and Maybe Something About the House That Moved. --GreGen

Long-Lost Love Letters Discovered in Michigan

From the Jan. 30, 2014, Yahoo! News/ABC News "Strangers Discover Long-Lost Love Letters in Attic, But Story Doesn't End There" by Eliza Murphy. //// Joshua McKinney, of Casnovia, Michigan, was removing old insulation in his attic Jan. 25 and found a stack of old love letters from World War II. They were wrapped in a pink ribbon and included a 1942 birth certificate for William Kissel and a marriage certificate from 1941 for Edward and Virginia Kissel. //// He alerted his local news station and media and within four hours Christina Frein, the grand-daughter of Edward and daughter of William, from Muskegon, an hour away, knew about it. //// That was the same weekend that her uncle, William's brother, had died and she said it was "like my dad was trying to talk to me." Her grandfather Edward died before she was born. //// No one from the family has ever lived in Casnovia, but the house had been in Muskegon in the 1940s and was part of a community. After the war, the house was separated from the others and relocated to Casnovia. //// An Interesting Story, But Wait, There's More. --GreGen