The Foundation of a Legacy

Born in 1901 to Joseph and Martha Zanoth in McLeod County, Minnesota, George Adolph Smida grew up farming with his father and younger brother, Henry Joseph Smida. Handy with a wrench, George maintained the farm equipment and as he grew older, began to design new tools and tinker with machinery that boosted the farm’s productivity.

In 1942, George took a position at Rodgers Hydraulics Inc. in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. This company supported the war effort by manufacturing crawler tanks, amphibious landing craft, universal presses for mobile equipment maintenance, and plastic molding presses for military products. By 1946, George, working as a tool room supervisor, collaborated with owner Johnny Rodgers to design and build a prototype pump and valves to hydraulically power hand chucks for expanding plastic tubes. This equipment became part of the standard Rodgers Hydraulics product line, and was later sold to firms manufacturing parts for the construction of the Aswan Dam on the Nile River between 1960 and 1970.

As Rodgers Hydraulics diverged from its core trade, and experienced declining return business, George and his wife, Louscinda, purchased the legal ownership rights to the pump, valve, and tool line business from Rodgers Hydraulics Inc. in 1959. George established George’s Machine Shop in an 800-square-foot backyard garage at his home in Crystal, Minnesota. He enlisted his son, George R. Smida, to help produce parts and service existing customers.