![]() NPS Photo/Springfield Armory NHS Archives Born January 1, 1888, just outside Montreal in St. Remi, Quebec, Canada, John Cantius Garand first moved to the United States at age 11. Giving up farming, his family took up residence in Danielson, CT, a traditional New England mill village. John became a bobbin boy in a textile mill by age 12 in Jewitt City, and eventually learned a number of skills which would prove helpful later in life, such as forging, welding, and steam engineering. These early pursuits in manufacturing also began turning Garand’s mental gears. He had a knack for identifying ways of improving tools and processes, and before the age of 18 he had patented his first two inventions: a telescopic screw jack and an automatic bobbin winding machine. The next year, he began working for Brown & Sharpe Co. in Providence, RI, in the design and construction of gages. In 1916, Mr. Garand turned his attention to the design of semiautomatic rifles, submitting a design to the US NAVY two years later. Attracting the attention of the authorities, he was requested to continue his work at the Bureau of Standards in Washington, DC. A year and a half later, Garand started work as an engineer at the government’s Springfield Armory, where he began developing a new semi-automatic rifle (a shoulder weapon lighter than a machine gun, but with a higher rate of fire compared to a traditional boltaction rifle). ![]() NPS Photo/Springfield Armory NHS The M1 was finally replaced by 1957 with the M-14, a gun Garand had helped develop at Springfield. Throughout his career, Garand had invented many tools and gauges, and over five different kinds of rifles. Extremely creative, he also devised new methods and processes to assist with efficient production of his inventions. Still, only one of his many inventions became known as THE Garand. In 1941 a newspaper described the modest inventor of the famous M1 rifle: “He is of average build and average appearance, with the quiet shyness of the absorbed technician. Of French-Canadian birth, he has a shock of wavy dark hair and the rugged high cheekbones and long jaw of the down-easter. His strong individuality is shown in the fact that although he has lived in New England for 40 years, he still speaks with a marked accent.”
By the end of his life, Garand had risen through the ranks of industry, from bobbin boy to engineer, and from mechanic to inventor. He honorably retired from Springfield Armory’s civil service in 1953, and lived the rest of his life in the city with his family, including his wife Nellie, son Richard, and daughter Janice. He died February 16, 1974 at the age of 86, and was buried in Springfield’s Hillcrest Park Cemetery. BibliographyHartford Courant, 1941-1974. |
Last updated: March 25, 2023