W.F. Main Clock
The mantle clock pictured below was manufactured at W. F. Main Co.’s jewelry factory in Providence, Rhode Island in 1892 and sold at the firm’s “Western Office and Salesroom” in Iowa City. It came to the Johnson County Historical Society as a donation in 2015.
The clock has a one-day spring-time and is housed in a dark wooden case. The glass door of the case is decorated with a simple nature scene, and the clock’s brass pendulum bears the image of a young man.
Willard F. Main traveled to Iowa City in 1888 to enroll in the law college at the University. He opened his jewelry repair and alteration—or “jobbing”—business in the Odd Fellows building at the corner of College and Dubuque Streets. He sold this business in 1898 to build the first jewelry and watch factory west of the Mississippi River, which he operated for two years before moving on to other ventures.
W.F. Main
Over the years W. F. Main engaged in several trades, and he made his mark on the Iowa City community as a wholesaler and distributer of goods. In an article published on July 17, 1908, the Iowa City Citizen described Mr. Main as “keen, resourceful, original, strong in his judgment of large business conditions, and with a sort of dynamic energy that is never ready to quit.” The caricature below, also from the JCHS Collection, illustrates some of W. F. Main’s many endeavors.
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