History of the Federal Clubhouses

In the Spring of 1926 five gentlemen, whose names are lost to history, formed the St. Anthony’s Gun Club on Central Avenue in St. Anthony Township. In those early years, the club operated only four traps and it was simply small business as usual. These gentlemen had various disagreements about the operation of the club after only a couple years and they contacted by a young man named Dan McInnis with an interest in selling it. Dan and his business partner Art Olson were already operating a small club in the area, but it was only equipped with two homemade traps, so when they were asked if they would be interested in purchasing St. Anthony’s Gun Club they jumped at the opportunity. In 1928 the gun club was sold to Dan McInnis and Art Olson.

Two successful years hosting events like the Turkey Shoot, building two new buildings, updating equipment to the Auto-Angle trap, and adding to trap fields followed. By 1930 Dan had decided to buy out his partners, during a time when the popularity of skeet shooting was at its peak. This trend continued making St. Anthony’s Gun Club a popular hangout for some of Dan’s friends such as Jimmy Robinson and Federal’s shooting ace George Jewett. After gaining considerable popularity in the early 1930s, the club hosted the 1933 Minnesota State Skeet Shoot which increased its public exposure. Due to its popularity, and the population growth outside of the Twin Cities, Dan was forced to look for a new location for the St. Anthony’s Gun Club. In 1940 Dan found a sufficient location on University Avenue in Fridley, and promptly moved the establishment. Unfortunately, the next year the original clubhouse caught fire and a new clubhouse that Federal Cartridge Company would later come to own was built in its place.

By 1942, four trap leagues had been formed at the gun club, but shotgun shells were becoming more difficult to acquire because of the concentrated war effort. The war years 1944-1946 were idle years, but by the summer of 1947 shooting leagues were back in full swing. It was around this time that several Feral Cartridge Company employees were decidedly active in the trap leagues—Forest Saunders, Elliot Ehlen, Bob Erickson, Charlie Dawson, Dave Yeager, Harold Russell, and Charles McFarlane. The St. Anthony Gun Club was again relocated on a 160-acre farmstead northwest of Anoka in 1955 and this is where it continues to be today. 1958 ushered in Wednesday evening Twilight Trap League organized by Federal’s own Robert Ehlen and Charlie Dawson. The original teams in this league were: Hoffman Engineering, Federal Hi-Power, Federal Monark, Anoka Drop Forge, Faye Construction and Ward Transfer. It was at one of these league nights that Robert Ehlen came up with the idea to color the 20-gauge shell yellow to avoid confusion between the 12-gauge and 20-gauge.

St. Anthony’s Gun Club built a good reputation in Anoka due to its hosting well-advertised shoots. By 1967 Federal Cartridge Corporation began showing Interest in purchasing the gun club and that year in December Dan McInnis accepted an offer from them. Although Federal may have acquired the gun club, Dan remained a manager until the spring of 1968 when Chuck and Loral Delaney agreed to manage it for the corporation. Federal Cartridge Corporation decided to build modern restrooms and to “redecorate” the clubhouse to their satisfaction. Federal also owned a gun club on their plant’s property, which was only open to Federal Employees, while the St. Anthony’s Gun Club continued to be open to the public. These effectively started the Federal Clubhouse legacy that became such a integral part of Federal employees work life.