The Detroit automotive industry emerged as one of the biggest recruits in the U.S. war effort after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
On Feb. 10, 1942, all auto production for civilian use ceased. From that day until V-J Day, the U.S. Defense Department gave Detroit automakers their marching orders. The United States military needed tanks, aircraft, vehicles, parts, boats, submarines, guns, artillery, ammunition, bombs and bombers.
And needed them all, as soon as humanly possible.
Much of the nation's wartime production occurred in Michigan because Detroit, soon to become the "Arsenal of Democracy," was the hub of the transportation industry. The economic impact was tremendous, but it also turned the Motor City into what many feared was a potential target for German bombs and sabotage.
Defense officials feared the Nazis might have planes capable of bombing America, and wanted to spread the defense work around to "military safe areas" at least 150 miles away from Detroit.
That decision brought major changes to Traverse City in the form of war contracts. As a result, the Parsons Pureaire Kitchen plant was converted into a munitions factory in 1943, and the auto-parts supplier Parts Manufacturing shifted gears and made replacement parts for military vehicles. Traverse City was chosen for the work because it had a deep enough harbor for steel boats.
The Parsons plant on Bay Street near Division Street was turned into a stamping plant that made compact kitchen units for apartments and other small spaces. A second factory was built on 12th Street and later housed Cone Drive Gear. The company, run by the late John Parsons, manufactured casings for bombs and land mines, as well as bomb fins. By war's end, Parsons Corp. was doing $20 million a year in defense work. After the war, it converted back to peacetime production, making rotor helicopter blades, eventually becoming the largest blade producer in the world and the city's largest employer with, at its peak, 700 workers. Owner John Parsons sold the plant in 1968; three years later, it was moved to California.
Parts Manufacturing opened its Traverse City factory in 1939 and reverted to making car parts after the war. It too, had a claim on being the city's largest employer at one time; it also had 700 workers before it closed in 1956. It was located on Boardman Lake on part of the old Oval Wood Dish Co. property.
Other changes
The war lifted the United States out of the Great Depression. In 1940, 8 million Americans were still unemployed. Two years later, joblessness of any kind was rare. In fact, some industries faced labor shortages, and as a result, more women were hired than ever before.
By 1945, women made up 36 percent of the nation's workforce, and they began wearing pants more frequently because dresses were deemed impractical in many workplaces. Local fruit farmers also had trouble finding workers, especially at harvest time. Some interned Japanese-Americans were sent to pick cherries here in 1943.
With the war ending, Jamaicans came north in 1945. By the mid-1950s, much of the orchard and field work was being done by migrant workers from Mexico and Texas.
Auto suppliers weren't the only industry affected by War Production Board orders. On March 18, 1942, the board issued regulations that rationed fashion and dictated the styles of clothing that would conserve cloth and metal.
Vests, elbow patches, patch pockets and cuffs were out for men. Skirts became shorter and narrower. Nylon stockings were unavailable because nylon was needed for parachutes and tires.
Silk, leather and rubber also were no longer used in the manufacture of civilian clothing. Enter "The Little Black Dress," which could be worn with many colors and jewelry.
Two-piece bathing suits also made their debut then. Though perhaps patriotic, historians concede they did create a public stir. In some cases, they are still doing so.
-- By Loraine Anderson
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