Amy Vach
Catalog Number: 2021.005.01
This small round yellow identification badge was worn by Lyle Monti while employed at the Bump Pump Company of La Crosse. Instead of displaying Monti’s name and position title like most work badges do today, this badge instead bears a small square photo of him standing in front of a height chart. The metal ID badge has a leather backing and a clip to attach it to the employee’s clothing.
Monti was born in 1911 to Herman and Nellie Monti in Fairchild, WI. Monti followed his brother, Ervin, to La Crosse, where he briefly worked for the Bump Pump Company, where he would have worn this identification badge in the mid-to-late 1940s. Monti followed in the footsteps of his brother Ervin and worked as a tool and die maker.
The Bump Pump Company was George Bump’s third name for his manufacturing company. George Bump came to La Crosse around 1910 and started Bump’s Paper Fastener Company to manufacture paper fasteners. As Bump’s list of inventions continued to grow, he reorganized his business to include the new items like a carburetor adjusting mechanism, an air compressor, and a pencil holder under Bump’s Manufacturing Company. The Bump Pump Company was the final reorganization of the company when production shifted to manufacturing pumps.
During World War II, Bump Pump’s staff grew to keep up with the supply and demand of war-time manufacturing. In 1941, the company employed approximately 30 people, but by 1944 Bump Pump employed 200 people. During this time, manufacturing focus shifted to parts for land and amphibian tanks, aircraft, and guns.
In the 1948 La Crosse City Directory, Monti is listed as working at Allis Chalmers, where he would continue working until his retirement. Bump Pump Company’s La Crosse plant closed in the 1950s when it was purchased by the Ulrich Manufacturing Company.
This identification badge was recently donated to the La Crosse County Historical Society by Monti’s son, Gerald.
This article was originally published in the La Crosse Tribune on May 28, 2021.
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