Trending
The next time you are driving up Putnam Street and pass Mills Hall at the corner of Sixth and Putnam streets, pause and think for a minute about how those that worked in the building in the 1940s likely saved countless of American lives during War World II because of their work building the proximity fuzes that were used in munitions in both the European and Pacific theaters.
The building, which started life as part of the Marietta Chair Factory was transformed, as were many Marietta buildings, into producing items for the war effort. Sylvania built millions of tubes used in the fuzes at over two dozen plants in this area of the country.
Local workers were recruited to work on putting components of the fuzes together.
The workers tended to be young right-handed women. The machines they used were set up to be used by right-handed people. I'm sure they found some other important jobs for left-handed people to do. The young people putting together the components of a tube that went into the fuze in Marietta were likely about the age of students taking classes in the building today.
Until the development of the proximity fuze, things like missiles and bombs blew up by either using a timer, or an impact fuze -- meaning they would explode when they hit something.
The proximity fuze, though, blew up when it got close to something like an attacking aircraft, or in the case of England, an incoming V2 missile from Germany.
The use of the fuze greatly increased the ability of the allies to stop enemy attacks. Weapons using proximity fuzes were up to four times more effective than those without. Proximity fuzes are still used in modern weapon systems.
In its post-chair factory, post-bomb fuze era, Mills Hall --named for John Mills, who owned the chair company and built the building -- has served as an academic building for Marietta College. Each Monday night during the school year you will find me on the third floor of the building teaching either Photography or Website Design to college students.
The building houses the Communication Studies and Psychology departments. Most of the building has been remodeled and modernized over the years, effectively hiding the industrial era when those that worked in the building were doing their part to end the war.
It's not that teaching people how to take compelling photos isn't important, because it is. It's never going to save lives though. Those working in the same building in the 1940s likely did exactly that.
Art Smith is online manager of The Marietta Times, He can be reached at asmith@mariettatimes.com