About the Author

Author and historian John Charles Anicic Jr. is a past president and past board member of the Fontana Historical Society. He is president of Fontana Heritage Museum Association, a board member of the Etiwanda Historical Society, and a San Bernardino County regional parks commissioner. Following up his Images of America book on the town of Fontana, Anicic explores an important industrial chapter in the boom town's history through more than 200 vintage photographs from former Kaiser employees and their families.

Reviews

Title: A museum preserves the history of Kaiser Steel Author: Mark Muckenfuss Publisher: The Press-Enterprise Date: 07/31/2010
Mark Muckenfuss The Press-Enterprise
John Anicic was busy compiling a book on Fontana's history for Arcadia Publishing -- one of those sepia-toned, largely pictorial volumes nearly every community now has -- when someone suggested he put together a similar book on Kaiser Steel.
"I didn't know anything about Kaiser," said Anicic, 73, of Fontana, even though he had cleaned office trailers there for four years in the 1970s, when the plant was still running. "I just assumed there was nothing available to do a book."
He put a solicitation for material in the local newspapers and was stunned.
"I got 150 phone calls," he said.
So he put together the story of the steel plant that shaped the San Bernardino Valley and supplied the bulk of the Pacific fighting fleet in World War II. But that was only the beginning. In 2006, when the book was published, Anicic along with his friend Charlie Dall, 73, of Fontana, held an open house to mark its release.
"That's when all this other stuff started showing up," Anicic said, motioning to the walls, shelves and display cases in the Kaiser Steel Museum in Rancho Cucamonga. He initially thought the material was a temporary loan but found out otherwise.
"The people said, 'Oh, we don't want it back, ' " he recalled. "I said, 'What am I supposed to do?' They said, "Well, we want a museum.' "
Anicic and Dall, who worked as a switchman on the Kaiser Steel rail yards for 14 years, opened the one-room museum last fall. The historical material from the plant, which employed more than 100,000 workers between 1942 and 1983, is housed in a building with its own history. It sits in the west wing of Sweeton Hall, which was built in 1915 as a school house.
Anicic and Dall are longtime Fontana residents who were involved with the Fontana Historical Society for many years. Neither is associated with the organization now. It seems even historical societies are not immune from power struggles and political maneuvering. But their experience has helped them organize their new museum, which is filled with photo displays of the old plant and littered with hard hats, uniforms, steel-making equipment and memorabilia such as commemorative belt buckles, ingots of pig iron and steel, mason jars filled with bits of slag, and campaign buttons.
Yes, campaign buttons.
One reads, "I support Frank Anglin, Zone 9, Grievance man."
"Frank Anglin came by a few months ago," Anicic said. "He lives in Arizona now."
Typically, only a handful of folks wander through the museum during the two days its open -- noon to 5 p.m. Thursday and Sunday. Many of them are former workers, and they frequently bring in material for the collection.
One man, named Louie, came in a wheelchair with his son. Anicic pointed to a white hard hat with "Louie" written on it in script.
"His son said (Louie) was so happy that his hat had a place here and that he would never be forgotten," Anicic said. "We got a call about three weeks later from his son saying that Louie had died."
Dall sees the museum as a lasting link to an important part of local heritage.
"One of the things I want to do is honor the people that worked out in the mill," he said. "This place had such a huge impact."
Anicic said they are attempting to acquire a mural showing the steel-making process -- including a string of lights pointing out the progression -- that still hangs in what was the old Kaiser Steel cafeteria.
"We just heard about six months ago they would like us to take it," he said. "We never know what's going to be coming.
The museum is at 9324 San Bernardino Road. Call 909-823-3164.