W.F. Main
When W.F. Main decided to open the first jewelry factory west of the Mississippi River, he chose Iowa City as the location.
Not only was it the first in this part of the country, it also was one of the largest jewelry factories anywhere in the United States — just one example of how when Main did something, he did so on a large scale.
A “man of ideas and action,” according to a 1916 article, Willard F. Main led the firm Main and Main, importers and jobbers, and founded both the W. F. Main Co. and the Boston Music Piano and Music Co. These businesses, and other actions, solidified Main as an important part of the development and growth of Iowa City.
Main opened the jewelry factory in east Iowa City in order to manufacture the goods at the point of distribution. The plant was an outgrowth of a jewelry factory Main had owned and operated in Providence, R.I.
“Many of Iowa City’s leading and successful business men first came to the city to enter the employ of one or another of Mr. Main’s companies,” according to an Iowa City Daily Press article.
Born in a log cabin near Mankato, Minn., Main came to Iowa City in 1888 and enrolled in the University of Iowa law department.
He sold the jewelry factory in 1899 and, for a number of years, served as owner and publisher of the Iowa City Republican newspaper.
He then became a pioneer in the phonograph business and branched out to the wholesale radio business — helping the radio business grow into a major American industry.
After the radio business, he devoted his attention to the expansion and development of what he called the “penny business” — manufacturing and selling confection vending equipment for gumballs and then other small candies, peanuts and other products.
At the end of a long and successful career in Iowa City — including 27 years occupying offices at the Odd Fellows building at College and Dubuque streets — Main moved to the second floor of the Cedar Rapids Savings Bank building.
“Mr. Main was one of the first businessmen in America to recognize the possibilities of penny vending machines, and he has to his credit today a business that grosses over half a million dollars annually, employing a large office and factory force in Cedar Rapids, and having about 75 commission salesmen in all parts of the United States. More than 40,000 vending machines have been manufactured and sold by his company during the last four years alone,” according to a September 1937 article.