Learn about QC innovators and inventors in new exhibit

You may have known that chiropractic care, sliced bread and Dairy Queen were all invented in the Quad Cities, but did you know that Deere & Company was very briefly in the automobile business?

That’s one fab tidbit in a fascinating new permanent exhibit, Quad City Innovators, which highlights inventors, innovators, and trailblazers that hail from the QC, now open at the Putnam Museum and Science Center (1717 W. 12^th St., Davenport), on the second floor.

“We’re so excited to welcome visitors to this new space,” Kelly Lao, vice president of museum experience and education at the Putnam, said Friday afternoon before a Quad Cities Chamber ribbon-cutting for the new 1,000-square-foot-plus exhibit.

“The Quad Cities is so interesting. How many places have you been and you go, ‘Did you know that chiropractic was invented in the Quad Cities? Did you know sliced bread was invented in the Quad Cities?’” she said. “People like don’t believe you.”

The Putnam was able to track down stories people have heard about influential inventions, and find artifacts that represent these inventions and innovations, she said.

“This has been part of our ‘Putnam Reimagined’ campaign,” Lao said. “Not only have we brought forth this gallery that talks about the innovators, the inventions and the trailblazers – people who led the way in the Quad Cities, but we’ve also been doing a lot of great things with the World Culture Gallery we opened a couple years ago and last year’s ‘Common Ground: Our Voice, Our Stories,” the telling of our regional history.”

“We’ve been doing a lot here at the Putnam and there’s more to come,” she said, noting a brand new gateway and welcome center that will transform the current entrance this fall. A new vault will also display many more pieces from the 250,000+ object collection that have been stored away, Lao said.

She thanked the funders for the renovation work, which connects to the Fab Lab and Common Ground, tore down walls, and renovated the old Palmer lecture hall and non-public space that is now considerably brighter and more open.

The exhibit financial supporters included Arconic Foundation, Hubbell-Waterman Foundation, Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust, Scott County Regional Authority, Adler-Schermer Foundation, Bechtel Trust and the Goldstein family.

“Quad City Innovators shares the incredible stories of Quad City innovators, inventors, and trailblazers through artifacts, stories, hands-on interactives, and fun learning experiences in our updated Fab Lab, re-opening in late April for drop-in maker and educational experiences,” Lao said, noting the lab was geared just for students in the past, and is now open to the general public.

The goal of the new exhibit is to spark hometown pride and inspire future change-makers right here in our community. “This exhibit is a great way to celebrate the innovation that comes from our community and inspire visitors to trailblaze in their own ways,” Lao said.

“Many of you have watched the Putnam change, evolve, grow to the amazing place that it is now,” Davenport Mayor Mike Matson said Friday. “The Putnam is a shining beacon. It’s a great example of something wonderful in the Quad Cities, and the growth and change in the cultural exhibits, the innovative exhibits you’re going to see here, it’s just amazing, and the challenge we have is to get the word out and make sure everybody knows.”

“The Putnam’s Innovators exhibit offers visitors an opportunity to see how many creative people we have in the Quad Cities and the world,” said Christina Kastell, curator of history and anthropology. “Every child will be able to see someone who looks like them and find inspiration to become innovators themselves.”

Some of the people and inventions featured in the Innovators exhibit include:

• Otto Rohwedder (bread slicer)

• J.F. McCullough, Cecil Medd & Henry C. Duke (Dairy Queen and soft serve ice cream)

• The Palmer family (chiropractic)

• Voss Brothers (washing machine)

• John Deere (farm equipment pioneer)

• Alexander Victor (movie camera and projector)

• Joe Whitty (Happy Joe’s Pizza)

• Fred Lundahl (Buddy L toys)

• Fred Boetje (Boetje’s Mustard)

• Nelly Cheboi (CNN Hero of the Year 2022)

• Dr. William West Grant (first successful appendectomy)

• Gene Baker (first African-American on the Cubs roster)

• Mary Solbrig (early airplane mechanician)

• Chad Pregracke (environmentalist and 2002 Jefferson Award recipient)

• Gary Payton (astronaut)

The existing 1927 Velie Model 50 standard sedan, made by the Velie Motor Company of Moline, got an upgrade in its presentation and highlights the Deere connection to the auto industry. Willard Velie (a grandson of John Deere) produced 75,000 automobiles between 1908 and 1929, among 300,000 motor vehicles – including tractors, trucks, and the Velie Monocoupe airplane.

There’s a panel in the exhibit on several QC automobile companies, including the Deere-Clark Motor Company of Moline (1906-07), a partnership of William Clark and John Deere’s son Charles (president of Deere), which manufactured 50 early automobiles.

One glaring omission from the new exhibit with a QC connection is John Vincent Atanasoff (1903-1995), who was credited with inventing the first digital electronic computer in 1937. In the winter of 1937, Atanasoff — then an assistant professor in mathematics and physics at Iowa State College in Ames — traveled to Rock Island, where he conceptualized the first computer, reportedly sketching it on a napkin at the former Hunter’s Club downtown on 4th Avenue.

Lao of the Putnam said Friday they’ve had a hard time getting an actual artifact related to the early computer, and the invention may be added to an exhibit touch-screen display.

The exhibit has prominent walls featuring internationally recognized inventors, innovators and trailblazers – including Leonardo Da Vinci, Madam C.J. “Sarah” Walker, Cesar Chavez, Steve Jobs, George Washington Carver, and Malala Yousafzai.

Quad City Innovators caps off a remodeling and construction project that expanded the footprint of the museum. This latest remodel adds space to the museum that was mostly closed to the public, adding about 1,000 square feet to public exhibit space, including easier access to the Putnam’s Giant Screen Theater lobby.

New CEO expected July 1

The Putnam is also changing its top leader, as it has chosen three finalists in the nationwide search to replace retiring CEO Rachael Mullins.

Mullins announced last October that she planned to move to the Atlanta area to be closer to family and help with her mother’s care. She has been CEO of the Putnam since June 2019, after working nearly 18 years for the Davenport Community School District.

Mullins’ mother Pat died on April 7 at age 91. Pat Mullins had moved to Davenport in the 1970s where she served in the Mississippi Bend AEA, pioneering physical therapy in the Davenport schools, according to her obituary.

The three finalists (none are local) selected by the Putnam executive search committee (comprised by board members and community members) will be interviewed in person next week, said Scott Peake, museum marketing director. A new CEO is expected to be named by late May, to start with the beginning of the fiscal year July 1, 2024.

QC Innovators is included in the price of the Putnam’s general admission—$12 for adults, $10 for youth (ages 3–18), college students, and $8 for seniors and military. Through the Putnam’s Museums for All program, admission is $1 per person for households with the presentation of an EBT card. Admission is free for members.

For more information, visit the Putnam website HERE.

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