Tweet
image_51132.jpg LR Cole & Company, Iowa city, Memorial Day Races weekend 1915. McGiness & Novotny, future owners next to 2 bikes on right. I knew Lee Novotny who inherited the business from his father. It was a Schwinn & HD dealership when Lee owned it. If you go back to posrt 4971, thise are photos of mine that were bought in Iowa City by a photo collector. I think they are inside shots of this dealership in 1911.
-
Last edited by duffeycycles; 01-19-2026, 11:50 AM. -
As always I can't resist doing a little historical dig on some of these pics. Roger, I find that McGinnis entered into a lease agreement on the former L R Cole building shown in the photo in late Sept of 1915. At some point Novotny must have come in as a business partner and in Feb of 1922 there is a notice of disillusion of partnership printed in the local paper noting that Novotny has purchased the entire business.Comment
-
Across the streeet from L.R. Cole & company on Iowa Avenue in Iowa City. Badger, pretty sure it was 1918 that Novotny became partner with McGuinnis. Originally Cole was Indian, picked up Excelsior, Novotny bought the HD dealership.
Iowa City LR Cole & co.jpgComment
-
Very nice photo above. Earlier today I was looking at info on Novotny and saw the name John Powers appear as a mechanic in Novoty's dealership. John Powers' name sticks out to me as a H-D employee in Milwaukee and later dealer in Rock Island IL. My grandfather certainly knew John Powers from his time in Milwaukee. In 1937 they were Pres (John Powers) and VP (my g'pa) of the Milwaukee MC. I have a little work to do to verify that this is one and the same John Powers. One year ago I made contact with a grandson of John Powers and he retains some family items from his grandparents and their dealership days.Comment
-
Johnny Powers HD ads. I didn't know he worked at Novotny's. Novotny's quit selling Harleys in 1964 when Lee & his buddy got tangled up in a wreck & his buddy died.Great Powers Cycle story, when he built a new shop he used ridgid frames for the rebar in the concrete behind the shop. There were a lot of John Powers in Rock Island. I have pics of the dealership somewhere in my files.
img772.jpg img775.jpgComment
-
Badger, This letterhead did not have the ad on it, I added that. I'm thinking it's about 1920 Harley letterhead, so Novotny owned the HD franchise then. The guy that gave it to me had one for McGuinnis but he didn't let me copy it & sold it & a pile of great stuff. He was married to Lee's daughter. Lee had 3 bikes & tons of NOS parts going way back. Lee wouldn't talk to me about motorcycles,said it was bad memories. Some guys from TN talked him into letteng them sell it all for him. Lee never got a dime. This included a nice OP 1928 JDH factory hillclimber. A few thought the one Bertrange traded away at Davenport many years ago was Lee's JDH. When Lee died his kids filled a large dumpster full of paper & collectibles. When the guy dumped the load an Iver Johnson hat flew out & he saved it & gave it to another friend of mine.
image_51103.jpgComment
-
-
Well I did verified that it was John Powers the future Rock Island dlr that trained at Novotny's, his brother Vern Powers trained there also. When John Powers went to Milwaukee to attend 3 weeks of service school at the factory in Nov of 1926 he was just 19 years of age. It's reported in early 1921 that Novotny had purchased 1/2 interest of the McGinnis Iowa City cycle business as McGinnis is heading to Moline to operate a H-D franchise there. One year later Novotny purchases the entire Iowa City business from McGinnis. The first mention I have seen of Novotny selling H-D is reported in 1923. I found nothing on Lee Novotny's accident but in 1948 I found that he was hospitalized with skull fracture.Comment
-
Thanx Badger, The brothers were born in Tipton Iowa. Vern "Shorty" is on find a grave but not John. Vern is buried here in Iowa City at the very cool,Oakland cemetery. John was married in 1936 in Milwalkee & had a son born in Wisconsin in 1942 & daughter in 1945 illinois. Here is a '48 Panhead that Novotny's sold new to James Ronan from my hometown, Lone Tree Iowa. James is not in this 1955 pic. James bought it age 17 in his junior year. He told me his Dad bought it for him. They went to Novotny's & looked. Everybody was waiting for the new glide model & this was sitting there,he liked the red paint & he rode it home. He only had 800 miles on it when he sold it out of his barn in 1969 to my childhood motorcycle mentor Stroker....in pic, Ron King with nephews...all 3 rode Harleys!
Ron King 1955 w-James Ronan 48 Panhead.jpg
Comment
-
Another great pic above! Roger, I know that you're a find a grave contributor. I'm not a registered user there but I always grab find a grave info for my person files. You appreciate the history as I do. I equate the search for historical info to fishing and hunting, it's just like casting a line with the anticipation of what may hit. I need to get back in touch with John Powers' grandson, he doesn't seem to have much of a clue as to what he has there. His grandmother Blanche (Johns wife) was a photography buff and he states that he has many of her family and mc event photos. I made the offer to him that I would assist him with identifying photos and items. Another cool story about John Powers time in Milwaukee and my grandfather is that they both raced cinder track in 1934 & 1935 at the Wisconsin State Fairgrounds. Speedway racing was popular at the time and a 1/5 mile cinder track was built in the infield of the Milwaukee Mile. The racing was first promoted by Night Speedway Inc and in late 1935 by Bill Knuth.Last edited by badger34; 01-22-2026, 07:51 AM.Comment
-
Back to the letterhead with motorcycles & bicycles, 1923 would still fit because 1918-1923 was when Harley made bicycles. My guess is the letter heads were not changed yearly. Here is 2 more pics with Jim Ronans 1948 when Stroker bought it in '69, There was a large gathering of mostly Chicago bike clubs at Iowa City's reservoir. DC Eagles, Midnight Riders, a few of the galloping Gooses & 1 other. My family camping group was the closest to the clubs.Nothing cooler as a 9 year old surrounded by hundreds of choppers. The '48 was stolen that Saturday & a guy was seen walking into the water carrying 2 red fenders. Saturday night was a brutal rainstorm & we woke up to about 25 clubbers sleeping under our converted school bus. My mother gave them salt for their sore throats.Stroker didn't develop the pics untill 1970 & forgot he had taken these. Matchbook is for the shop that Stroker worked at & these pics are out back. Stroker's '56 KH chopper is in 1 pic.
Stroker 028.jpg Stroker 027.jpg Stroker -Bill's repair matches.jpg
Comment
-
I am a Find a Grave contributor. I was surprised when I was researching racers years ago. Ed Kretz & Ed Jr didn't have pages or links so I found their graves & added them. The Davidson family had pages but no links. I told William Godfrey Davidson about adding the links. [Willie G] He said he knew who they were but had never been on Find a Grave & planned on looking at it. Todays pic is Iowa City motorcycle races 1914-1915 era.
raceIII.jpgComment
-
Maybe this one was sold or serviced by McGuinnis. 1940s pic at Riverside Pond, Moline Illinois cop giving "snake" rides behind his Sidecar rig.
XX Moline cop on ice pulling kid train.jpgComment
-
-
Great picture 1939wl. Obviously, 1937 ELs with lots of interesting features but that doesn't necessarily date the picture. I love old cars too, and there was a great site called "The Old Motor" that said goodbye last year. I was staggered by the incredible knowledge of "The Old Motor" contributors who could see a fuzzy license plate and tell you the year and location from that plate and know the fender, trim, wheel, and window design of any car in the picture. We're motorcycle geeks on our stuff, but cars were more common and knowing cars dated motorcycle pictures more accurately. Thanks for the great picture, John.Eric Smith
AMCA #886Comment
Comment