Grisdale, John Thomas, 1904-1985.

John Thomas Grisdale was born in Minneapolis, the son of Charles and Frances Ruth Orvis Grisdale. He graduated from Central High School there and entered the University of Minnesota. After attending several years of the architecture course at the University of Pennsylvania, he left in 1928 before completing his degree. In 1930 he won the Pencil Points competition and also received an Honorable Mention in the competition sponsored by the Pan American Union for the Christopher Columbus Memorial Lighthouse. Grisdale worked for Mellor, Meigs & Howe and then Mellor & Meigs for over ten years (1928-1939). In the early years of World War II he was in the office Paul Cret (1940-1943). At the conclusion of the war he and J. Roy Carroll formed a partnership, joined the following year by William L. Van Alen. Carroll, Grisdale & Van Alen was one of the most successful firms in the region from the 1950s through the 1970s.