Celebration & Plaque Unveiling: Honoring WWII Codebreakers, ERA and Technology Innovators

Celebration & Plaque Unveiling: Honoring WWII Codebreakers and the Founding of Engineering Research Associates

In a salute to a remarkably powerful era of entrepreneurism, the Ramsey County Historical Society (RCHS) celebrated the enduring economic and technological activity unleashed in the Twin Cities by Engineering Research Associates (ERA) more than 75 years ago. A commemorative plaque was installed at the company’s original site, 1902 Minnehaha Avenue West in St. Paul, on Thursday, June 15, 2023.

Speakers for event included:

• Don Hall, Historian and author, who also served as the MC for the event.
• Chad Roberts, President & CEO of RCHS.
• Lowell Benson, VIP Club.
• Norb Berg, Control Data, shared his memories of William (Bill)Bill Norris. Mr. Berg’s remarks were read by James McGuire, former Vice President at Control Data.
• Dean Laurance, Sperry Rand.
• John Rollwagen, CEO at Cray Research.
• Manny Villafaña, Cardiac Pacemakers, etc.

For more the history of ERA and the event, see this page.

RCHS will be working to continue to preserve and collect the history of ERA. If you have contributions such as memorabilia, historical documents or insights, please contact us.

RCHS appreciates the generosity of Don Hall in making this event possible. Hall is the author of “Generation of Wealth: The rise of Control Data and how it inspired an era of innovation and growth in the Upper Midwest,” published by the Nodin Press in 2014. RCHS thanks the current owners of the building, Capital Partners, for their assistance with this project.