The Unboxing of Fallout Shelter Items – 56 Years Later

The very last donation of 2017 was given to SCHS by the Rahr Malting Company on December 21, 2017. It was exactly as if the we had received an early Christmas present. The donation consisted of five boxes, of both the small and large variety, and all that was written down on the paper was that they were civil defense supplies from 1962. Needless to say, it was very exciting opening and uncovering the items inside of these civil defense boxes. As it turns out, these boxes were like a Christmas gift to SCHS, just opened up fifty-six years after they were originally packaged. Although it may have felt like Christmas here at the museum, the items in these boxes were originally packed for a much darker and serious purpose: in the event that a fallout shelter was needed in the future.

The Rahr Corporation, established in 1847 in Michigan, has since expanded to several different locations, one of them happening to be on 1st Avenue West in Shakopee. The facility in Shakopee was built in 1937, and had been added onto in 1954, 1977, 1981, 1994, and 2016.1 The information that many may have forgotten, however, was that the Rahr Malting Company was designated as a fallout shelter in 1961-1962 for the citizens of Shakopee. The boxes that were donated to SCHS were chalk full of fallout shelter items, many of them having been undisturbed for more than fifty years.

Included in the items were lists for Medical Fallout Shelter Kit “A”, which was one of the smaller boxes that could treat 50-65 shelter occupants, and for Medical Fallout Shelter Kit “C”, which was one of the larger boxes that could treat 300-325 shelter occupants. Each list identifies the items and the quantity of each item. Kit “C” contained the exact same items as in Kit “A”, just in larger quantities due to the larger number of proposed occupants. Also included was a brochure titled Fallout Shelter Medical Kit Instructions, dated July 1962, as well as a thicker brochure titled Family Guide: Emergency Health Care, which detailed instructions on caring for individuals while in a fallout shelter. These lists and brochure can be viewed below.

The items that were packed in these boxes were medical supplies, which would be extremely necessary in the event of needing a fallout shelter. Any and all items that could fit were made to sit inside their own individual brown cardboard box, the name of the item written on the front of the box. Items included several different kinds of bandages, scissors, thermometers, tweezers, safety pins, isopropyl alcohol, surgical soap, toothache remedy, eye and nose drops, diarrhea medication, many different kinds of pills (sulfadiazine, penicillin, aspirin, cascara (a laxative)), as well as tins of baking soda, petroleum jelly, and bottles of table salt. Also included were small bottles of iodine pills that would have been used to treat water in fallout shelters. All of these items were necessities when living in a closed off fallout shelter, be it with either 50-65 people, or 300-325. These items were chosen and packed with care, ready to offer aid to those who were sick. Although many of these items were labeled as being packed and stored in 1962, we, unfortunately, don’t have information on which building on the Rahr Malting campus was to be used as the fallout shelter.

Nonetheless, these items are a museum’s treasure, and very much a look into the past when nuclear war felt very much like an imminent threat. These boxes stored in the Rahr Malting Company show that a very national fear was felt by everyone everywhere throughout the United States, even in small Shakopee, Minnesota.

Many of these items have not been viewed since the 1960s, so I am pleased to allow you a secondhand look at these fallout shelter items. Enjoy.

A Successful Partnership: 81 Years of Rahr Making Malts in Shakopee

Continuing our inventorying of the photographic work of LeRoy Lebens here at SCHS, one of the more prevalent themes of his catalog is local businesses and their development. His photographs capture the construction and activity of many businesses throughout Scott County. However, one business seems to stand out among all the others, both in terms of numbers of photos and physical size, the Rahr malting plant in Shakopee. We thought it would be interesting to share a few of these images with you, along with a little background on this longtime member of the Scott County business community.

The Rahr family began a brewing business under the direction of German immigrant William Rahr in 1847 along the shores of Lake Michigan in Manitowoc, WI. Malted barley grain, necessary to the brewing process, was also produced by the family. It was this second factor that would ultimately prove to be their greatest success. Within a short time, Rahr began selling their excess malt to other breweries throughout the Midwest and eventually this became their primary focus until prohibition swept through the country in 1920. To survive prohibition, Rahr produced malt for use “near beers”, coffee, and dairy products. Fortunately for Rahr, as well as everyone else, prohibition came to an end in 1933 and they could again produce malt for a thirsty population.

Eager to reclaim its former dominance in malting for brewers throughout the Midwest, Rahr looked to expand beyond its Manitowoc location and built a state-of-the-art facility in Shakopee in 1936. They had many reasons for choosing Shakopee for their new facility. First, the malting process requires an abundance of good water, which the aquifer here provides at a constant temperate of 52 degrees, perfect for their needs. Second was proximity to barely, at the time the farmlands around Shakopee were producing some of the best barely in the world. Third was access to shipping facilities, ports along the Minnesota River and railroad service from Union Pacific and Canadian Pacific afford the factory the ability to quickly ship orders anywhere. Fourth was proximity to the Minneapolis Grain Exchange, which was the leading barley market in the nation. Rahr also found an eager workforce and a welcoming city in Shakopee, according to a February 6, 1936 article in the Shakopee Argus-Tribune.

This facility is now the largest single-site malt production facility in the world.  Since 1936 the Rahr plant in Shakopee has undergone five more expansions, adding buildings in 1954, 1977, 1981, 1994, and 2016. The facility’s footprint is seven blocks long, two blocks wide, and dominates the skyline with its tall towers which can be seen for miles around. The added capacity has enabled an annual output of 460,000 metric tons of malt, while its 300 storage bins can hold upwards of 8 million bushels of barley. This kind of output makes Rahr an undeniable world leader in their field, providing malt and other supplies to roughly 90 percent of the breweries in the United States, from big names like Anheuser-Busch to the smallest local brewer. Despite having additional facilities in Taft, North Dakota and Alix, Alberta, the Shakopee plant serves as the company’s headquarters where they employ 240 people.

The images we have selected to show here were taken by LeRoy Lebens mostly from the 1960’s through the early 1980’s and show various stages of construction for new buildings, advertising, parts of production, and artistic shots.