Dow-Key and Digi-Key both in Thief River Falls MN

 I saw this on Floolbook:

And noticed the address for Dow-Key as being in Thief River Falls, MN.  Of course Digi-Key is also in Thief River Falls, was there some connection ?

interesting time line here for Dow-Key:            http://www.n7cfo.com/tgph/dow/dow.htm

I never knew that Dow-Key made actual bugs and keys.  I always thought of them as the RF relay folks.  We had a Dow-Key relay for a TR switch at the Nicolet High School Radio Club.

from September 1968 QST page 144

Digi-Key was founded by Ronald Stordahl, AE5E, not sure exactly when.  This page says "about 1969" :)

https://www.digikey.com/en/resources/ham-radio/ham-radio

 Ronald Stordahl (then K0UXQ) published an article in April 1968 QST with Richard Halverson, W0ZHN, titled:  An Integrated Circuit Electronic Keyer    I *think* that Richard Halverson was one of Ronald's professors at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/twincities/name/richard-halverson-obituary?pid=90704693

The keyer was advertised in QST, first in September 1968:

Here is another ad from December 1968 QST:

And then another more sedate ad from May 1969 QST:

but after a while Digi-Key pivoted from ham radio to supplying electronic parts to hams and also to computer enthusiasts.  Here is an ad from Popular Electronics, July 1973, page 121:

So no definite link found between Dow-Key and Digi-Key, maybe it's just a coincidence that both companies existed in Thief River Falls although not at the same time.

Best Regards,
Chuck, WB9KZY
http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm