Jay Rendall. Photo: Chris Emeott
Jay Rendall’s upcoming book focuses on an early industry of White Bear Lake.
Time is the builder of history. As the years stack up, moments are compressed—creating a few diamonds that become precious in our collective memory. While we treasure the pieces of history that last—more are lost forever. In many cases, it’s dedicated citizens who take up the mantle, pursue curiosity and preserve our history.
Jay Rendall is one of those citizens. He’s working to secure a place in local lore for the boat builders who were invaluable to the area’s early growth. For the past 15 years, Rendall has scoured archives and spoken with the families of notable figures to compile a comprehensive history of White Bear Lake’s boat builders.
![J.O. Johnson came to White Bear Lake from Norway in 1893 to work for Amundson Boat Works. He was 18 years old. Three years later, he left Amundson to pursue plans for a radical new sailboat. His first sailing scow, funded by a local sailor with the White Bear Yacht Club, won its first race in 1897. “This is a historic drawing right here. This is the first design of the [E Scow], and they’re still sailing these today,” Jay Rendall says. “I recovered this. I found it laying on top of a cabinet with a cat laying next to it.”E Scow drawing by J.O. Johnson, 1923](https://whitebearlakemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Class-E-Sailboat-Hull-pt-bow-ed.jpg)
J.O. Johnson came to White Bear Lake from Norway in 1893 to work for Amundson Boat Works. He was 18 years old. Three years later, he left Amundson to pursue plans for a radical new sailboat. His first sailing scow, funded by a local sailor with the White Bear Yacht Club, won its first race in 1897. “This is a historic drawing right here. This is the first design of the [E Scow], and they’re still sailing these today,” Jay Rendall says. “I recovered this. I found it laying on top of a cabinet with a cat laying next to it.” E Scow drawing by J.O. Johnson, 1923. Photos: Johnson Boat Works Collection
The two-year experience cemented his place in White Bear Lake. Though he didn’t return to boatmaking (He worked for Minnesota Department of Natural Resources for 28 years.), he never left the area. He became a part of local sailing and hockey communities and went on to coach and serve on various boards. Over the years, he became close friends with Fletcher Driscoll, a local boat builder credited with resurrecting the lake’s A Scow Fleet.
The Johnson family continued the tradition of boat building for more than 100 years. J.O. Johnson’s sons, Iver, Milton and Buster, took the business forward. Then, Skip and Steve, cousins in the third generation of the family, transitioned Johnson Boat Works from wood to fiberglass in the ’60s–’70s. The company’s boat molds were sold in 1998. Today, Skip’s stepson, Jason Brown, still repairs sailboats at his company, White Bear Boat Works.
It was in conversation with Driscoll in 2010 that Rendall’s courage to write a book was ignited. “[Driscoll] was telling me about his boatworks, and I asked if it was written down,” Rendall says. “When he said, ‘No,’ we agreed there was a need to tell the boat builder stories.”
Twelve commercial boat builders have operated out of White Bear Lake through the years, specializing in canoes, duckboats, sailboats and steamboats. Those early boat builders were more than competitors—they were neighbors and friends. “They were friends, but when it came to their business, they were strategic,” Jay Rendall says. “They all had their own niches.”
Rendall quickly realized there were more boat builders in White Bear Lake than he could’ve fathomed. Even those entrenched in the topic—including the families of local legends Gus Amundson, J.O. Johnson and Gerry Spiess—had only fragments of the whole picture.
Local adventurer Gerry Spiess is most known for crossing the Atlantic Ocean in 1979 on his 10-foot plywood boat, Yankee Girl, which he built in his garage in White Bear Lake. It took him 54 days to sail from Virginia to England. He would also go on to cross the Pacific Ocean in 1981 and fly the perimeter of the United States. Jay Rendall connected with the Spiess family to obtain never-before-seen images and sketches, as well as audio recordings. Many of these artifacts will be featured in a new exhibit at White Bear Lake Area Historical Society in early May. Photo: Spiess Family
The White Bear Lake Area Historical Society (WBLAHS) has been both a resource for and a recipient of Rendall’s research. “We love this project because it’s something near and dear to the community. Boatbuilding [and] sailing has a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of followers, a lot of interest,” says Sara Markoe Hanson, WBLAHS executive director. “It’s a piece of the history that can get very minute, and we just don’t have the staff to be able to dig down and approach it at the level [Rendall] is.”
Today, the working manuscript lives on the hard drive of Rendall’s computer along with innumerable articles, interviews, letters, photographs and sketches. Over the years, he has restored dozens of frames of damaged slide film from the Johnson family, scanned the Amundson scrapbook and recovered century-old original drawings and family artifacts.
“It has brought the whole family’s stories to life. It’s quite touching,” says Skip Johnson, the grandson of Johnson Boat Works founder J.O. Johnson. “A lot of it, you sort of forget over the years, but when someone is revisiting it all, it brings it all back.”
Jay Rendall and his wife, Penny, in their sailboat, Orange Crate, before a race on Lake Mendota in Madison, Wisconsin. “Penny was my crew,” Rendall says. “We were racing, but there was hardly any wind that day.” Penny and Jay in a Johnson C Scow, 1977. Photo: Rendall Family
The project is a true labor of love—both for Rendall and the families whose history he is documenting. He even initiated a reunion of sorts for the Amundson family (of Amundson Boat Works) when, after interviewing some Amundsons out in Oregon, they came to White Bear Lake to see the finished Boatworks Commons Community Room. It was the first time some of the extended family members had met.
“Several elders in the boat builders’ families have said, ‘Hurry up and finish the book before I die.’ Unfortunately, I let a couple down, and they have passed,” Rendall says. In January 2023, he was almost one of them. Rendall had a silent heart attack, leading to an eight-hour open heart surgery. “Fortunately, I’m still here and can finish the book,” he says.
While Rendall has yet to announce a release date for his book, he’s getting close. For updates and more information on his research through the years, view Rendall’s Facebook page: The Boat Builders of White Bear Lake – by Jay Rendall.
