Background
Turnblad was born Sven Johan Olofsson in Tubbemåla, Vislanda, Kronoberg County, Småland, Sweden in 1860.
official teacher newspaper publisher
Turnblad was born Sven Johan Olofsson in Tubbemåla, Vislanda, Kronoberg County, Småland, Sweden in 1860.
He attended local schools and after graduating high school he worked as a teacher and helped with the family"s farm for several years.
Turnblad was the manager of the, a Swedish language newspaper in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Later in his life he donated property and money to help create the His family were farmers but, following a series of bad harvests, they decided to immigrate to the United States in 1868. The family settled in Vasa Township, Goodhue County, Minnesota, where there was already a sizable community of Swedish immigrants.
In 1878 he moved to Minneapolis, where he worked as a typesetter at several Swedish-language newspapers.
Soon after arriving in the city he met another Swedish immigrant, Christina Nilsson (1861-1929). In 1887, Turnblad became the manager of the Swedish-language newspaper Turnblad was very interested in new technology and was the first publisher of a Swedish language newspaper to use a Linotype machine.
After acquiring a duplex rotary color printing press in 1903, Turnblad also included color illustrations. Under Turnblad"s management circulation increased steadily, growing from just 1,400 in 1887 to 40,000 by 1900.
In The success of together with his other investments made Turnblad very wealthy.
In 1903, Turnblad commissioned the building of a mansion on Park Avenue in Minneapolis. Built on a combination of six city lots, the home cost $1.5 million ($395 million in 2015) and took five years to complete. The family moved into their new home in 1908.
While it was their official residence, they spent most of their time living in an apartment across the street after 1915.
Turnblad created the American Institute for Swedish Art, Literature and Science (later renamed to the ), which was housed in his former residence, as a place to preserve Swedish customs and culture. Turnblad died in 1933.
He was buried in Lakewood Cemetery in Minneapolis.
