How many people are aware that the Twin Cities was a major player in the birth of the computer industry?

It all began in 1946 at 1902 Minnehaha Avenue West, the headquarters of Engineering Research Associates (ERA) in St. Paul’s Midway area. This little company was home to a group of brilliant computer engineers who blazed one of the most remarkable trails of entrepreneurial activity the Midwest has ever experienced. In the Twin Cities, its presence grew to include Sperry Univac, Control Data, Cray Research and scores of spinoff companies.

Eventually, the innovating focus of the computer industry shifted to the West Coast. Incredibly, its technology has advanced to the stage where it provides instant communication and astonishing search capacity, available in the average person’s purse or pocket — a veritable supercomputer in the form of a cell phone.

The ERA headquarters building where so much of this took root still stands. At one time, a plaque at the building identified the company as “the acknowledged parent of some 100 Twin Cities computer firms.” In 1991, the plaque vanished.

The building’s history is instructive. It was constructed in the 1920s as a radiator factory, making products that replaced the uneven heat of fireplaces with metal furniture that produced an even, emanating warmth. During World War II, workers there turned out military gliders. Then came the computer activity. Today, the durable structure houses a stained glass supplier.

A mere plaque won’t bring the magic back. But the creative ferment this marker celebrated reminds us of our previous good fortune. Its message helps us remember that history provides a lesson, that all human activity must remain vigilant and adapt to an ever-changing culture, and that its survival is best served by a curious, educated body of people, often products of our universities. Doing more to highlight this saga would help to renew St. Paul’s most enterprising business traditions: creating products and services that meet human needs, providing good jobs, generating opportunities for entrepreneurs, including many immigrants, and reducing economic inequality.

We’ll probably never know what happened to that old ERA plaque. What we do know is that we need to keep the energy it celebrated alive.