Collins Aerospace’s first Jamestown employee, Art Todd, returns for 55-year celebration tour

Art Todd, described by Collins Aerospace Jamestown management as the plant’s first-ever employee, returned to the Jamestown campus on March 5, 2026, for a guided tour and an employee reception as part of the company’s 55-year celebration. The visit was a morning appointment after Todd said he could not attend a formal anniversary party planned later in March at Harold Newman Arena.

Todd, who retired from Collins Aerospace 21 years ago, called the current Jamestown operation transformed from its early days: "It has turned into a real state-of-the-art manufacturing facility," he said, and added, "This has become a world-class operation." He told visitors he was hired by Western Gear in 1966 and that in 1967 "we were awarded the 747 cargo-handling system contract with Boeing," a milestone tied to the plant’s early growth.

Todd and his wife, Barb Lang, toured manufacturing areas on the campus where Collins Aerospace’s Jamestown general manager, Charles O'Neill, led the group and hosted a reception with employees who have worked with Todd. O'Neill said Todd was initially invited to the larger 55-year anniversary event but was unable to attend, so the company arranged the March 5 tour; "I'm appreciative that you took your morning to let us spend some time with you and reminisce a little bit and spend some time on the factory floor to see where we are now and where we want to be in the next five years," O'Neill said.

Recalling the very early construction phase, Todd described the first workspace: "This floor literally was dirt," he said. "They had not poured the floor yet." He said the Jamestown operation began with one building and that he "hired four employees" as the site launched. O'Neill credited local political support and local leaders for the plant’s arrival, noting that "Milton Young and Art are the two key players that made this happen," and referencing Senator Milton Young’s role in persuading Western Gear to locate in Jamestown; Young served in the U.S. Senate from 1945 to 1981.

Company context places the Jamestown campus’ rise over decades: a 2020 account noted that from a single building and some 50 employees in 1970, Collins Aerospace’s Jamestown operations grew into a complex employing more than 400 workers, making it the largest private employer in Jamestown and one of the largest in North Dakota, and that the Cargo Systems business maintains an engineering and manufacturing center in Bengaluru, India. Photos from the March 5 visit are credited to Masaki Ova, filenames collins aerospace art todd visit one 030526.jpg and collins aerospace art todd visit two 030526.jpg. The tour and reception underscored the plant’s multi-decade economic role in Jamestown and set a forward-looking tone as management maps goals for the next five years.