Magnus Wahlström (October 28, 1903 in Surahammar Municipality, Sweden – January 30, 1972 in

Bridgeport, Connecticut Bridgeport is the List of municipalities in Connecticut, most populous city in the U.S. state of Connecticut and the List of cities in New England by population, fifth-most populous city in New England, with a population of 148,654 in 2020. Loc ...

, USA), often Wahlstrom in English, was a

Swedish American Swedish Americans () are Americans of Swedish descent. The history of Swedish Americans dates back to the early colonial times, with notable migration waves occurring in the 19th and early 20th centuries and approximately 1.2 million arrivi ...

entrepreneur and later a

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

. He was married to Agnes (née Johnson); they had a daughter, Eleanora. In his youth he worked on Surahammar's Mill, first in the office and then in the mechanical workshop. Wahlstrom moved to the United States in 1923. His first stop was

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. In Chicago he met another Swedish American, Rudolph Bannow (1897–1962). Another friend was Gerhard 'Gerry' T. Rooth. Bannow and Wahlstrom founded the business that became Bridgeport Machines, Inc, a major

machine tool builder A machine tool builder is a corporation or person that builds machine tools, usually for sale to manufacturing, manufacturers, who use them to manufacture products. A machine tool builder runs a machine factory, which is part of the machine industry ...

famous for its milling machines. The meeting with Bannow was the start of a successful partnership. The two began by producing electric hedge clippers. After much hard work, their first universal milling machine was built in 1932. By 1936, their company was called the Bridgeport Pattern and Model Works and was offering milling heads (the part of a mill where the spindle is) commercially. The American Precision Museum's biography of Rudolph Bannow. reports that he conceived the iconic Bridgeport ram-and-turret, knee-and-column design in 1936 as the logical machine on which to mount the milling head already being built by the company. In 1938 they began selling whole milling machines. The company had now established itself as a machine tool builder named Bridgeport Machines, Inc. After getting into this business line, the company started to become very successful. In 1968, the company was sold to

Textron Textron Inc. is an American industrial Conglomerate (company), conglomerate based in Providence, Rhode Island. Textron's subsidiaries include Arctic Cat, Bell Textron, Kautex, Textron Aviation (which itself includes the Beechcraft and Cessna b ...

for US$101 million, about $850 million in 2014 values. Upon this sale, the company employed approximately 1000 people. Wahlstrom donated a lot of time and money to charity. Among other things, he helped the poor in Bridgeport with rent and food. Wahlstrom also invested capital in the newspaper

Nordstjernan Nordstjernan () is a Swedish investment company. Nordstjernan is a fourth-generation family company controlled by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation. The origin is the shipping company Nordstjernan, which was founded in 1890. Hist ...

in 1953 to help the newspaper to avoid bankruptcy. The

University of Bridgeport The University of Bridgeport (UB or UBPT) is a private university in Bridgeport, Connecticut, United States. The university is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education. In 2021, the university was purchased by Goodwin Unive ...

Library is named after his support to the university.

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Bridgeport Machines Inc.University of BridgeportCity of BridgeportVestmanlands Läns Tidning (newspaper)Nordstjernan (newspaper)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wahlstrom, Magnus Swedish emigrants to the United States 1903 births 1972 deaths Burials at Mountain Grove Cemetery, Bridgeport People from Bridgeport, Connecticut People from Fairfield, Connecticut Machine tool builders People from Surahammar Municipality

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