Great Class

Today was one of the best days at the MNHS class I’ve ever had.

Our morning started off with an examination of the last half of our Atlanta trip itinerary. It sounds like we’re going to be far busier than we were in Boston. But I’m looking forward to it. Though 10 days away from home will be very difficult. I was terribly home sick when I just went down to the cities last week for a union convention.

Next, we had a MN “history player” from the MNHS who played the part of Frederick McKinley Jones.

What is interesting about history is that regardless of where you live (and this is especially hard for high school kids to believe), it’s amazing how interesting other people are.

I’ve lived in NW MN all my life, and I’ve never even heard of the name Frederick McKinley Jones, an African American whose impact on not only NW MN, but the state as well - and the whole country and world, is unmistakable.

And he spent much of his life right in our back yard here.

Jones was born in Cincinnati, OH. At a young age, Jones loved to tinker. One of his fondest memories was of taking apart his father’s watch again and again . . . just to see how all the parts worked together. He loved to assemble and tinker and invent. However, his father took him over to a rectory in Kentucky and abandoned him there. A priest took him in and raised him, but Jones wanted a change.

Jones faced a decision. He could continue his education, for he only had six years of education up to then. Or he could strike out on his own.

He chose the latter. And it made all the difference (is that Robert Frost I hear?).

He bounced around the south working different jobs. Then he began traveling, mainly by riding the rails. It was here that he heard about Henry Hill’s son, who had a farm in - of all places - Hallock, MN, where he had - as Jones described it - a small city of his own in which he tried to perfect how to raise cattle and farm in the Red River Valley.

So in 1912 Jones headed out in hopes of become Hill’s mechanic. It took awhile, but he did just that.

However, Hill’s father died, and he sold his farm. Jones decided to stay in Hallock. He professionally raced cars in the 1920’s. But he gave that up to tinker. He was vital in developing the first radio station in Hallock. In fact, he assembled radios for his friends in town.

What Jones was really known for, though, was his love to invent and tinker. His shop, located behind the movie theater in Hallock (yes, you read that right. Hallock had a movie theater. Imagine that!) and kids loved to come in and see what he was working on.

Because he was behind the theater, he became good friends with the owner. This happened to be the time of the silent films, but soon larger theaters in bigger areas discovered a way to play phonograph that worked in conjunction with the film to provide sound and dialogue.

This, of course, was far too expensive for the small Hallock theatre. So Jones’ friend came to him for help. After some tinkering, Jones invented his own phonograph - using two disks from a farm implement.

Soon, though, the sound was put right into the actually film itself. This, however, called for a special lens to trigger the sound. Of course, this was too expensive again. And Jones went back to work.

He petitioned Bausch and Lomb for a lens built to his specification for the film machine Jones constructed. However, he was turned down.

That didn’t stop him though. Using a crystal towel holder, he invented the lens.

And it worked incredibly.

In fact, businessmen often scheduled trips through Hallock to catch a film, because it was far superior to any other theaters in the area.

Soon a manufacture of film projectors and lighting, Joseph A. Numero, heard about Jones’ reputation. He offered him a job as an engineer down in Minneapolis for Cinema Supplies, Inc.

Jones took it and flourished.

However, one day in 1934 Jones’ boss was playing golf with two other CEOs. One was running an air conditioning business. The other owned a trucking business.

The trucking owner received some bad news: a truck just broke down and an entire load of chickens had spoiled.

He was furious. He chided the air conditioning boss that he could air condition an entire theater, but he couldn’t perfect a way to keep a truck trailer cool.

Here is where Jones’ boss stepped in. Even though he was joking, he stated that he knew an engineer who could solve the problem. And - again - even though this was done in jest - to really anger the air conditioning owner - the trucking business owner took him up on it.
Soon Jones invented what would go on to become the thermal king unit for cooling trailers. This soon became its own business Thermo King.

I still remember those units running on the trucks Dad drove most of his life.

But Jones wasn’t done. World War II was looming. The federal government put out a call for all engineers to design a way to keep supplies fresh - and cool - for the troops.

Jones’ design was accepted and helped refrigerate food and even the troops themselves.

This led to a change in our food supplies. No longer did we have to eat food in season. Because of Jones’ refrigeration process, you could ship food all over the country - and the world.

But Jones wasn’t done. He soon found NASA interested in his work. And soon he was working on space suits for the first chimps sent into space. This was the pioneering work that would be used on John Glenn’s suit.

Amazing, right?

Right. And it really originated right here!

Amazing.

What I love about this is that Jones did all of this on six years of formal education. His innate curiosity, determination, and love for learning propelled him to success . . . and totally changed the world.

Thing of all the industries he impacted . . . radio and film (no real money is generated there is it?), food industry (ditto), refrigeration, and ultimately space travel.

Think of all the jobs this one man’s ideas helped invent!

It even impacted my life - and not just with the food I ate - but who knows if my dad would have found work as a trucker without those ThermoKing units?

But really, as the history player wound down his great presentation, I couldn’t help but wonder would Jones thrive today in our schools?

I have a feeling had he finished elementary school, gone on to middle school, and graduated from high school, we’d have drummed all of that curiosity, determination, and love for learning right out of him. He’d be no child left behind.

We’d have taught him core reading, writing, math, and science while keeping him from excelling in any one area.

And how often do we do this today? What kind of world are we keeping from being invented because of our education system because of national standards and ‘teacher proof curriculum’?

Now that scares the hell out of me.