WT Grant/Bradford appliance sourcing

[jamiel]

Saw an interesting advertisement on a FB group that popped up in my feed on WT Grant.

In 1966, it looks like WT Grant acknowledged that:
Refrigerators/Freezers sourced from St. Cloud, MN (Studebaker-Franklin)
Washers/Dryers from Webster City, IA (ditto)
Other appliances from Minneapolis (??) , Belleville, IL (doubtless Peerless/Premier ranges), Cleveland, TN (Magic Chef-ranges) and Mansfield, OH (probably Westinghouse for dishwashers)

Any idea what appliance manufacturer was in Minneapolis? Did Zenith move south from Duluth at some point?

 

[jamiel]

and with a little work looks like Minneapolis was a Seeger/WP refrigerator plant.

 

[combo52]

Whirlpool had a huge plant in Saint Paul, Minnesota, where they assembled and built the Segger designed whirlpool Rotary refrigeration compressors.

I believe they also made vacuum cleaners there and they may have made their early dishwashers there before they opened the Findlay Ohio plant for dishwashers.

 

[tomturbomatic]

In their range brochures, they showed a Westinghouse range, only one, and it stood out from the Sunray dreck like flecks of mica on a bowl of oatmeal.

 

[vacerator]

Britmann electric in Chicago made Kenmore vacuum cleaners like the Kencart thank style and early uprights until the Whirlpool canisters. Uprights were by Ryobi and Singer later until the Panasonic type. Maybe Panasonic bought that concern.

 

[wayupnorth]

Bradford washers were junk. I had an Empress 18 given to me that ran and had a filter flow. Transmission seals must have been toast as it leaked oil into the washtub. Junked at only 5 years old.