Bio of MILLER, Walter J. (b.1887), Hennepin Co., MN
=========================================================================
USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information
on the Internet, material may be freely used by non-commercial entities,
as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is
obtained from the contributor of the file.
These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or
presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to
use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written
consent of the contributor, OR the legal representative of the submitter,
and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent.

If you have found this file through a source other than the MNArchives 
Table Of Contents you can find other Minnesota related Archives at:
http://www.usgwarchives.net/mn/mnfiles.htm
Please note the county and type of file at the top of this page to find 
the submitter information or other files for this county.
FileFormat by Terri--MNArchives

Made available to The USGenWeb Archives by: Laura Pruden
Submitted: June 2003
=========================================================================
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
========================================================
EXTRACTED FROM: History of Minneapolis, Gateway to the Northwest; 
Chicago-Minneapolis, The S J Clarke Publishing Co, 1923; Edited by: Rev. 
Marion Daniel Shutter, D.D., LL.D.; Volume I - Shutter (Historical); 
volume II - Biographical; volume III - Biographical
========================================================

Vol III, pg 105-106
WALTER J. MILLER
Walter J. Miller, vice president and general manager of the Northwestern Steel &
Iron Corporation of Minneapolis, is a factor in that general movement which is
transferring the mineral activities of the country from the east to the west.
His labors are productive of valuable and far-reaching results and his business
is today one of the prosperous manufacturing enterprises of the upper
Mississippi valley. Mr. Miller has always lived in this section of the country,
his birth having occurred in Pewaukee, Wisconsin, October 3, 1887, his parents
being John A. and Louise (Lechner) Miller, the former a native of Cologne,
Germany, while the latter was born in Mil­waukee. The father, who long engaged
in the real estate business, died in 1902, and the mother passed away in 1923.
In the acquirement of his education Walter J. Miller attended the Spears Latin
School at Denver, Colorado, until fourteen years of age and then obtained his
high school training in Milwaukee. He started out in the business world as a
special apprentice in the shops of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad
and while thus employed pursued a course in mechanical engineering. He was
graduated as inspect­ing engineer for the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad
and was sent on the road in that capacity, specializing on steel. He was located
in the Pittsburgh district in 1907 and 1908 and in the latter year operated in
the Chicago district, inspecting steel in all the large steel mills of the city.
In 1909 he became identified with the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad,
also with the Chicago & Eastern Illinois, and with the Evansville & Terre Haute
and Frisco lines, acting in this capacity for two years. Leaving that city he
returned to Milwaukee as chief inspector for the Old Prime Steel Company, with
which he was thus associated until 1912, when he went to Attica, Indiana, to
take charge of the shops of the National Car Coupler Company as super­intendent
of finishing and inspection. There he remained until the spring of 1916, when he
became ill and underwent an operation, after which a change for more out­door
work was necessary and he secured a position with the Oxwell Acetylene Com­pany
of Chicago and in the summer of 1916 was sent to Minneapolis as salesman in a
territory which had always been considered a difficult field. Here he proved his
ability to handle the products of his firm. While thus engaged he became
attached to Minneap­olis, and seeing an opportunity to better himself, he became
associated with the Gas Traction Foundry Company in 1917, as sales manager,
remaining with the company continuously to the present time. It has been
reorganized as the Northwestern Steel & Iron Corporation, of which he is now
vice president and general manager. In September, 1922, the entire plant was
taken over by Glenn E. Petters and Walter J. Miller, who are now its owners. It
is the only acid open-hearth plant northwest of Milwaukee. The company
manufactures high-class open-hearth steel castings and prides itself on the
service and quality it renders. It occupies a square block of property and
employs in normal times from one hundred and fifty to two hundred men. Mr.
Miller has had a varied business career but has been constantly alert and has
steadily worked toward the goal of gratifying success, for he started out
practically empty-handed. The bulk of the product of the company is shipped to
the Milwaukee, Chicago and Indiana districts, where it has much competition, its
sales being made entirely upon the merit of its goods and service. The company
is today sold out for six months in advance and is contemplating the erection of
a new building, sixty by four hundred and fifty feet, in the early spring of
1924. At the present time it is erecting a second acid open-hearth furnace and
installing a great deal of new equip­ment in order to take care of the enormous
demand which has grown up for its product.
On the 1st of January, 1912, Mr. Miller was married to Miss Helen Elsie Froedo
of Milwaukee and they have two children: Gene, born November 11, 1913; and
Walter Albert, born September 11, 1916. Mr. Miller is a thirty-second degree
Mason and belongs to the Minneapolis Athletic Club, the Minneapolis Automobile
Club and the Civic & Commerce Association. Pleased with the city from the outset
of his residence here, he has become closely allied with her interests and her
welfare and his active support is at all times counted upon to further any plan
or measure of vital public moment.