* Info on early Iowa phonograph dealer requested of me * Any help finding anything :)

[snakeo1]

This is your mission should you decide to accept it and any help will be appreciated.
I received a request from an elderly grand-daughter for help in finding anything about her grand-father....an early phono dealer in Iowa. She also references RCA so maybe even later...or not...hard to say.
Anyway here's the request and info she provided. And then the best response I got after several google searches...first her request:

My Grandfather (Robert A Lonergon) - sold RCA phonographs in Reinbeck, Iowa. He was a pharmacist at Rexcall Lonergan Drug Store. He sold the phonographs from the attic of an adjoining bldg to his pharmacy, He won a trip to Chicago (with his wfe Anna Lonergon) for being the high seller of phonographs. Robert & Anna met Thomas Edison & had their picture taken with him. I believed it was around 1915. Do you have any info on Robert A Lonergan a sales representatve for RCA phonographs? Possibly you may have seen the picture I am searching for. Please advise if you know anything about Robert A Lonergan. Thank you! Kim

This is all I could find:
A "Lonergan" business was a significant part of the Reinbeck community's history. A local history source mentions Lonergan in a list of names associated with the history of the property at 401 Main Street in Reinbeck, Iowa, from 1877 to 2006.
However, the specific details regarding it being an RCA and Edison dealership are not confirmed by the provided search results, which primarily mention the name in the context of the Reinbeck property history or state government records. The available snippets do not explicitly link the Lonergan business to the sale of RCA or Edison products, but the information does confirm the Lonergan name was associated with a business location in Reinbeck.

Any paper trail out there? Any photos? Any detectives?
Thanks guys and girls and Happy New Year!
Craig

[zonophpones7]

Craig,
This sounds like a worthy search. I hope you find the infofor her. You may want to check with the county historical society… they likely have archived newspapers and may have info on this store. I would think a local winning a trip to meet Thomas Edison in Chicago would have made the paper. It looks like it is Grundy county… here is a link to their website. https://www.grundycenterhistory.org/ Good luck!
Gregg

[snakeo1]

Craig,
This sounds like a worthy search. I hope you find the infofor her. You may want to check with the county historical society… they likely have archived newspapers and may have info on this store. I would think a local winning a trip to meet Thomas Edison in Chicago would have made the paper. It looks like it is Grundy county… here is a link to their website. https://www.grundycenterhistory.org/ Good luck!
Gregg

Thanks a lot Gregg! There's a lot of info there and I'm just scratching the surface

[Inigo]

Local newspapers could have advertising about his business.
Also Google shows old photos of main st,

[MisterOpera]

I believe her grandfather also sponsored a tone test at the time in the Methodist church in Grundy Center, Iowa. Seems I have seen a picture of the inside of her grandpa's store, with Diamond Disc. Machines. What is her name and phone number? I spoke to a relative years ago, that told me they sold out machines at 10 cents on the dollar when Edison went out of the phonograph business.
Burdette E. Walters
Wellsburg, Ia.
[email protected]

[electrolaman 64]

In that time period he would not have been a RCA dealer. He would have been a Victor Talking Machine Co. dealer.

[Inigo]

But in 1930 it already was the Victor Record Division of RCA... Isn't it? If the business resisted by the 1920s into the 1930s it could have well changed into an RCA dealer... Or the memory of the woman calls RCA anything with Nipper on it...?

[Roaring20s]

A photo of the store ...
https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=102 ... 4851642510
Robert A Lonergon is on the left ...
https://scontent-dfw5-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/ ... e=695FEC0E

Another of the store ...
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10 ... 8349445161
and Edison Phonographs and a Nipper ...
https://scontent-dfw6-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/ ... e=695FBE81

Letterhead from 1917 (he was involved with the Carnegie Reinbeck Public Library) ...

From 1919 ...
https://www.worldradiohistory.com/hd2/I ... onergan%22

Screen Shot 2026-01-03 at 11.22.37 PM.png (96.72 KiB) Viewed 252 times

Charles Edison was at the 1920 Chicago Convention.

James.

[snakeo1]

Many thanks James! Great old photos and some wonderful information!

[electrolaman 64]

But in 1930 it already was the Victor Record Division of RCA... Isn't it? If the business resisted by the 1920s into the 1930s it could have well changed into an RCA dealer... Or the memory of the woman calls RCA anything with Nipper on it...?

Right you are. I wanted the person asking for information to know everything in which to search with. Your suggestion of newspapers was most helpful.


Carlton