Henry J. Neils’
Travelogue of 1959 Great World Cruise
Henry J. Neils was a stone and architectural materials distributor from Minneapolis. He travelled with his wife Frieda and wrote a daily diary of his voyage on the 1959 Great World cruise.
In 1917, Henry began work at the Flour City Ornamental Iron Company as a tractor mechanic. He retired as Chairman of the Board and Chief Operating Officer in 1964. Meanwhile, Neils also started the Alumacraft boat company, as a division of the Flour City Ornamental Iron Company, and later, Champion Motors Company.
The Neils home in Minneapolis, was designed by renown architect Frank Lloyd Wright and built of marble offcuts that Henry was able to obtain through being a trustee of a marble company. He also supplied the aluminium for the window frames, unique for a Lloyd Wright design.
Among only a dozen or so homes in the area designed by this architect, to this day, this distinctive dwelling is known as the “Frieda and Henry J. Neils House”.
Presumably, Henry's original 30 faded typewritten sheets had been duplicated for distribution to his employees. Now they form 25 pages transcribed for the Timeline accessible from links on this page or from the January, February, March and April 1959 month pages.
This was the first special feature to be added to the Timeline as it entered its 2nd year of being on-line.
Henry's texts throughout the site start with this indicator: H.J.N.…