In May 2009 the Makinen Tackle Room opened at the Bottle House Museum. The village of Kaleva purchased a large portion of the pieces from long time collector Bill D. Gregory from Osh Kosh WI. Kaleva's own Bill Makinen started and operated the Makinen Tackle Company. 

On December 11, 1904, William D. "Bill" Makinen was born to John J. Sr. and Matilda Makinen. Bill came from a talented family, his father started and played in Kaleva’s first town band, he also was a talented woodworker. John Sr. also built the Bottle House from 60,000 bottles from his bottling company. Learning at a young age to be creative and thrifty, Bill began making lures from wooden plugs at age 10.

As an adult Bill went to work for his father at the bottling factory for a while, and he attempted to raise mink, among other work endeavors. Then he decided to devote himself to what he knew, creating fishing lures. His knowledge of fish, how various baits moved, the colors that attracted fish, and his pure love for the sport of fishing went into producing a successful business. Makinen Tackle opened in 1945. At that time he and his wife Esther had two young daughters, Doreen and Mavis, who remember that a family vacation was a fishing trip.

Makinen Tackle was started out of Bill’s garage, with 2-3 employees and by 1946 expanded to fifty employees from the Kaleva area. In 1945 Makinen Tackle sold 135,000 lures and set a goal for 500,000 in 1946. By this time both Makinen Tackle and Mak-Craft were growing by leaps and bounds, so in 1946 Bill opened a new factory at the SW corner of 9 Mile and Healy Lake Road.

Boxes of Makinen Tackle arranged by Deanna Draze & Martha West in the Makinen Tackle Room.

Mak-Craft, which was another business endeavor of Bill Makinen, produced wildlife lamps and other household ornaments. When Makinen Tackle Co. started producing glass fishing rods for James Heddon & Sons, both of Bill’s businesses wouldn't fit in his newly built factory. So Bill Makinen acquired the old bowling alley 2 blocks to the west of his new factory. Mak-Craft then moved into the former bowling alley and began producing furniture for Chicago’s Merchandise Mart and industrial wooden pallets.

In 1947 James Heddon & Sons contracted with Bill Makinen to do finish work on Heddon’s lures. Heddon sent the lure bodies to Kaleva to be painted, assembled, and boxed for shipping. Makinen Tackle produced 75,00 to 100,000 bamboo and glass fishing rods per year from 1947 to the mid-1950’s. In 1951 Heddon purchased Makinen Tackle Co. The operations continued at the Kaleva plant until the mid-1950’s and Mak-Craft continued until 1959 in the Heddon-owned Kaleva plant.

Stop by the Bottle House Museum during the summer every Saturday and Sunday noon – 4 PM from Memorial Day to Labor Day to check out the Makinen Tackle Room and all our other exhibits.

Mural painted by Martha West in the Makinen Lure Collection room in the Bottle House Museum.