C. J. Swanson was born in Smoland, South Sweden. He emigrated to the United States in 1869, and settled in McLeod county, Minnesota; one year later he came to Minneapolis. He began the manufacture of brick in 1876. The business has since been prosperous. The yards are located on the east side of the river, three miles north of the city and furnish employment to forty-five men and ten teams. He was married in 1876, to Christine Johnson, who has borne him one child. (History of Hennepin County and the City of Minneapolis, Including the Explorers and Pioneers of Minnesota, Rev. Edward D. Neill, North Star Publishing Company, Minneapolis, 1881, Page 356)
The injunction restraining the Mississippi and Rum River Boom company from interfering with the wood which C. J. Swanson floats down to his brick yard was yesterday dissolved. (The Saint Paul Daily Globe, Sunday Morning, June 2, 1889, Volume XI, Number 153, Page 10)
Mr. C. J. Swanson, the millionaire brick manufacturer of Fridley, was in town yesterday and called at the Union’s abode during the editor’s absence. (The Princeton Union, Thursday, February 26, 1891, Volume XV, Number 10, Page 5)
C. J. Swanson, the brick manufacturer, has built a church on his property near his plant in Fridley. He gives the people the use of the church for services. (The Minneapolis Journal, Thursday Evening, December 8, 1904, Page 15)
Swanson, Charles J., pres. Northwestern Fireproofing Co.; born at Frannarp, Sweden, Oct. 18, 1850; son of Swan and Maria (Larson) Swanson; came to America, 1869; educated in public schools of Sweden and in private schools of the United States. Bricklayer by trade; discovered and developed claybanks, 1875, on both sides of Mississippi river, just above City of Minneapolis, from which the brick used in the city has ever since been supplied; established a plant for making porous, hollow tile for fire proofing and has since done the principal part of the fire proofing in the State; the pioneer in the State, in this line, shipping to Winnipeg on the North and City of Mexico on the South. President N. W. Fireproofing Co., formerly C. J. Swanson, established 1875. Also director German-American Bank. Married at Minneapolis, 1887, to Miss Christina Johnson. Club: Odin. Office: Kasota Blk., Minneapolis. Residence: Fridley, Minn. (The Book of Minnesotans, A Biographical Dictionary of Leading Living Men of the State of Minnesota, A. N. Marquis & Company, Chicago, 1907, Page 500)
Swanson, Charles J., b. in Sweden, Oct. 18, 1850; came to the U. S. and the Minnesota in 1869; has engaged in the manufacture of brick at Fridley since 1875; has been a state senator since 1907; president of the Northwestern Fire-proofing Co. (Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society, Volume XIV, Minnesota Biographies 1655-1912, Warren Upham and Mrs. Rose Barteau Dunlap, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul, Minnesota, June 1912, Page 760)
Senator C. J. Swanson of Fridley, accompanied by his son, Alvin J., visited Princeton friends Friday. Mr. Swanson was returning from the Cuyunna iron range, where he is interested in some mining properties. (The Princeton Union, Mille Lacs County, Minnesota, Thursday, August 17, 1916, Volume XL, Number 35, Page 5)
Died in 1934.