\u00a0<\/p>\n An automatic shoe shine for a penny?\u00a0 We simply had to investigate.<\/p>\n Frank McElroy (husband of Alberta) first appears in the Davenport city directories in 1924, living at 210 west 4th<\/sup> Street. He is listed as the vice president of the Automatic Shoe Shine Company.<\/p>\n The president of the company, which is listed at 901 \u00bd Ripley Street, is given as C. J. Ruymann.\u00a0 The secretary-treasurer is Katherine McElroy* and the manager is A. W. Kuehnel.<\/p>\n How could it miss?<\/p>\n Well, we don\u2019t know that it did, exactly, but there are certain signs that all did not go well:<\/p>\n In 1925, Mr. Kuehnel is gone, both from the company listings and the city.<\/p>\n In 1926, Frank\u2019s wife, Alberta, has disappeared.\u00a0 Frank is living at the company address.<\/p>\n By 1927, Miss McElroy is still secretary- treasurer, but has resumed her old job with the Moline school system. \u00a0<\/p>\n In 1928, Mr. Ruymann no longer lists the Automatic Shoe Shine Company in his personal directory entry, although he is still listed under the company entry.<\/p>\n By the next year, both the company and Frank are gone.\u00a0 they say that most new businesses dn’t last five years–Automatic Shoe Shine was one shy of that goal.<\/p>\n Our local resources don\u2019t indicate whether Frank McElroy and his marvelous machines moved to another city and fulfilled their potential . . . or even if Frank was reunited with Alberta .\u00a0 We’d certainly like to think so–those machines were pretty cool!<\/p>\n Regardless,\u00a0we do hope that he never gave up his dreams.<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n * It might be interesting to note here that Claus J. Ruymann is also listed as a lawyer, as the president of the Security Saving Company, The Security Realty Co, and as the vice-president of the Davenport Housing Corp.\u00a0 in other words, he had money to invest. \u00a0\u00a0Katherine McElroy, who was listed in previous years as a physical training instructor at the Moline Public Schools, lived in the same apartment building as Mr. Ruymann and his wife, Ida. \u00a0Coincidence . . . \u00a0or networking?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Davenport has had its share of inventors and entrepreneurs over the years.\u00a0 Some, like Alexander F. Victor, with his 16mm film projector and eventual 80 patents, were a great success, revolutionizing their particular industry. Some . . . were not. … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/McElroy-1.jpg?ssl=1\" "\\"McElroy-1\\"")
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