While the city was an ocean and thousands of miles away from the front lines, Dowagiac was never far from the minds of the soldiers protecting their nation during World War II who called the city home.

An article published in the Sept. 24, 1943, edition of the Dowagiac Daily News demonstrated this fact. The story, written by a reporter with the United Press news agency, was about a group of Dowagiac troops who hosted an informal reunion at the Eagle Club in London.

Quoting from the article, Dowagiac Area History Museum Director Steve Arseneau said the men talked about a range of subjects, from “Indian Lake, the brisk air at home, squirrel hunting — and girls.”

“Once they determined that most of the girls back home were getting married, they banned girl talk,”
Arseneau said.

While visions of their hometown never left the troops fighting in the world’s bloodiest conflict, neither did the thoughts of those brave soldiers escape the men and women who stayed behind in The Grand Old City.

Arseneau talked about how Dowagiac changed during World War II and how the city shifted its industrial might behind the war effort during his presentation at the local museum Wednesday — the 75th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack — entitled “Dowagiac During World War II.” The director’s program closed out the Dowagiac Area History Museum’s fall lecture series, with more than 100 people packing inside the downtown building’s basement to listen.

When the U.S. entered the conflict in December of 1941, Dowagiac was still in the height of its industrial prowess. On top of four major furnace companies — Round Oak, Premier, Rudy and Dowagiac Steel Furnace — Dowagiac was home to The Heddon Company, at the time the world’s largest fishing lure manufacturer.

Niedner Rifle Company also had a small plant located in town, near the present location of Dowagiac Union High School.

Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, nearly every factory in the city shifted its focus toward producing parts for the war effort, Arseneau said.

For former giant Round Oak Stove Company, which once helped put Dowagiac on the map, wartime contracts from the government helped keep the company afloat following the massive downturn it experienced during the Great Depression. Throughout the war, the company was responsible for producing different items, including powder cans, landing mats, and parts for B-29 bombers, Arseneau said.

“Peak employment during the war at Round Oak was 1,136—this was a significant boost to the local economy,” he said. “Round Oak during its peak years in the 1910s, was around 1,200, so the war got the Round Oak factory back into peak employment. The factory must have been humming.”

However, the mismanagement that plagued the company in the years preceding the war continued throughout it, Arseneau said. After V-J Day, the company struggled to transition its foundry from magnesium back to iron for furnace and heater production, and sold the factory to Kaiser-Frazier in 1947, effectively ending the company, Arseneau said.

Rudy and Heddon were two other companies that thrived through military production during the conflict, with both receiving the prestigious Army-Navy E Award — a distinction given to fewer than 5 percent of U.S. manufacturers during the war, Arseneau said.

While isolated from Axis aggression occurring in Europe and the Pacific, Dowagiac’s wartime production was still at the mercy of mother nature. A tornado touched down in Dowagiac on June 1, 1943, wreaking havoc throughout the city — though thankfully no one was killed during the disaster.

“The people who lived through the day said that it was lucky it happened over lunch hour,” Arseneau said. “Many students and factory workers were at home and safe.”

In spite of this disaster, along with a fire that broke out at Rudy later that month, the factories kept chugging along, the director said.

Those not toiling away producing parts for the military were still engaged in the effort, buying war stamps and bonds and conserving food and other materials. The Dowagiac newspaper was more essential than ever too, delivering the news from the front lines — including reports on the 64 Cass County residents who died fighting overseas.

“Every individual did their part during World War II — from the soldiers fighting the fight to citizens working in factories, saving bacon grease and planting victory gardens,” Arseneau said. “Kids gave their allowance to war bond drives. Every subsequent generation owes them a debt of gratitude.”