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Photo of employees filling bags

Goodwill employees sort hundreds of bags of donated clothing

1919: St. Paul Goodwill Industries is founded; first store opens.


1920: St. Paul Goodwill’s earliest skills training program offered begins, shoe repair. At least one person is known to have gone on to open their own repair shop.


1923: The Women’s Auxiliary started in September. Members paid $1 to join and by May 1924, 100 women had become members. The Auxiliary raised money to help pay wages through fundraisers, sponsored a nursery for Goodwill employees, gave group tours of Goodwill Industries and much more.


1928: The official monthly newsletter named The Goodwill Bag was created and published locally.


1928: St. Paul Goodwill hired its first driver who used his personal Model T Ford to make collections and deliveries, because horse-drawn cart delivery became inefficient.


1929: St. Paul Goodwill Industries was forced to closed its doors due to sparse storerooms and high demand for work. They were able to re-open after only one week thanks to community support and donations 489 bags of clothing and 800 bags of papers.