Bell Lumber and Pole Yards began business in 1919, treating telephone poles and lumber. The company hired many local men and is still in business today. In mid-1980s, after being declared a Superfund site by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Bell began the process of cleaning up the hazardous chemicals on its property, spending over $10 million to do so and also to rebuild the plant to treat poles and lumber using environmentally clean processes. This panorama photo shows the pole treating plant and the large telephone poles treated in the process.
Aerial view from the south village limits of New Brighton was taken by MacGillis & Gibbs Company, a pole yard company, which is seen in the lower half of the photo. Notable buildings include the First Congregational Church, New Brighton Elementary School, St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, and the New Brighton Village Hall.
Otto Schmalzbauer, Jr. and Anton Schmalzbauer along with Florence Lundgren in the Home Brand Grocery Store, run by Anton and his brother-in-law Frank Zamor in the old Transit Hotel building.
Among the retail establishments in New Brighton in the 1920s was Frank Zamor's Ice Cream Parlor with Rosina Boryczka working behind the counter in 1925.
Sadie and Franklin M. Searles, prominent New Brighton businessman, in front of their 1923 vehicle with their grandchildren, Helen Searles and Donald D. Searles.
Children of Franklin Searles, New Brighton prominent businessman, are shown: son Coy Searles; daughter Marnie Searles; friend E. Lawrence Haglund; daughter Maude Searles
The grocery store of Schmalzbauer and Zamor, located on Front Street in the old Transit House building, was operated by Frank (Shorty) Zamor and Anton (Buff) Schmalzbauer, brothers-in law.
MacGillis & Gibbs Company employees with their horses as they transport telephone poles. The company specialized in the treatment, production and distribution of telephone poles from 1919 and employed many New Brighton men. The firm treated telephone poles and lumber with chemicals to preserve the wood, which ultimately contaminated the soil and made its way into groundwater. In 1984 the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) declared both MacGillis & Gibbs Company site and an adjacent pole company, Bell Lumber and Pole, as a Superfund site. The cleanup continued until 1993.
View of the stockyards shows the five ice houses run by Peoples Coal and Ice Company and cattle in pens. This photo is currently being used in the letterhead and logo for New Brighton's civic event, New Brighton Stockyard Days.
Peoples Coal and Ice Company had five ice houses on the east side of Long Lake which first served the stockyards industry and later provided a busy commercial ice industry for some 60 years in New Brighton. The ice was stored in well-insulated ice houses and covered with sawdust, which helped to insulate the ice and keep the blocks from sticking together. When needed, the 20 x 32-inch blocks were loaded into railroad cars, which held about 140 blocks per car. Any left-over ice went toward filling many a villager's own icehouse.