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How Midwest got it's start:
Melvin, a young American Soldier during WWII in the Army Pictorial
Service had his Graflex camera break down. Knowing
it would take months to get it back from service he decided to take it apart and
repair it himself. Soon others in Pictorial Service
and other soldiers started to bring their broken
photographic equipment to him for service. After
his return he would take this knowledge home to his fathers camera store.
He then trained his younger brother Raymond on what he had taught himself and Midwest Camera Repair
was born. It would not be until 1957
that the brother's would officially take the name Midwest Camera Repair, but our roots started in
Italy in the 1940’s. The brothers would go on to be two of the
founding fathers of the trade association NAPET (National Association of Photo
Equipment Technicians). Midwest would become one of the first Authorized
Kodak Service Centers.
Melvin
and Christian his girl in
Italy, he would later bring home as his wife.
Ray and Rose on their wedding day.
Before Midwest got it's start:
Why do we have an ad from a 1899 newspaper posted
for a company that sells and repairs farming implements and manufactures and
repairs delivery wagons?
Notice the address of “
116 Oak St.
near Cor of Third”. If you were
to Google this address you would find it’s near the corner of First Street not
Third St
, that’s because the city changed the address in the 1920s.
Why
is this ad important to us? Because 116
Oak St.
would go on to become
318 Oak Street the now location of Midwest Camera
Repair, Inc. And Frederick C.
Engferhr is our Great Great Grandfather, our family has been in the repair
business for over 120 years in one form or another.
In the early
1900’s our grandfather John Sr. before starting Feldman Camera
Exchange, worked out of the downstairs of 318 Oak Street making
parts for a car manufacturer.
While upstairs there was a hall that was rented for
weddings, parties, etc. Then
in the late 1950’s our Dad Ray and Uncle Melvin moved Midwest Camera
Repair, Inc. from out of the back of their father's camera store
into the downstairs of 318 Oak, as Midwest grew they would take
over the hall upstairs also. In the mid 1960's they would
add an addition that would almost double the size of the
building.
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