The State Fair was shut down for the duration of the war, and the Horse Barn, Cattle Barn, & Coliseum were converted into an airplane manufacturing facility. Parts were shipped in from elsewhere (I think on the railroad that runs just south of the Fairgrounds, next to the current St. Paul Saints ballfield) and assembled inside the Coliseum.
In fact, the large archway you can see over the street connecting the Coliseum to the Cattle Barn was actually built at that time. It served as a dormitory for workers assembling these planes. It is still used as a dormitory by farm kids tending their cows at the State Fair. There is also another dormitory on the balcony level of the cattle barn itself, overlooking the cattle stalls. The basement under the cattle barn (yes, there is one) was used for storage of airplane parts during this time.
If you go into the office in the Coliseum, you can see photos of the facility in use as an airplane assembly factory. (But the planes look small to me -- more like fighters than bombers.)
Tim Bonham, Ward 12, Standish-Ericsson
"Bomber crate" houses- during World War II a local plant made
hordes of giant wooden crates for shipping bomber parts between
plants. These were about 12' or so wide, 8' or so tall, and over 20'
or so long. When the war ended a bunch of these were left here
without further use. Some ingenious folks bought these up, arranged
them in various configurations, and made "bomber crate houses" out of
them. A friend of mine grew up in one in the St.Paul Park/Cottage
Grove area, but they may have ended up in Minnepolis as well.
. . .
Dyna Sluyter in Hawthorne
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