Gerald Farnsworth founded Farnsworth Electronics in 1922 from New Hartford, Iowa

When Gerald Griffin Farnsworth opened 'Farnsworth Radio & Electric Shop'
in 1922, he was only 13 years old. His business operated inside a chicken coop in
New Hardford, Iowa, which surely was not the most ideal for this type of work. 


Pictured to the right - Gerald with his older brother, Linden Farnsworth.


Now you might remember from history class that in 1927,
Philo T. Farnsworth had his first successful television transmission
and filed a patent for his system that same year. Is there a connection?
Sure is! Philo and Gerald were 4th cousins.

After graduating high school, Gerald moved first to 258 Western Avenue in Waterloo. He then took a correspondence course at De Vry Tech in Chicago. 

In a non-business related incident, in 1934, Tommy Carroll, a member of the John Dillinger Gang was shot and killed in Waterloo. Emil Steffen, Chief Detective, needed someone to take embalming fluid to the funeral home. There were several members of the gangster groups from Chicago in town so most people didn't want to volunteer for anything. Gerald just happen to be at the police station working on the 2-way radios and volunteered to make the delivery.

Pictured to the left - Gerald outside at 258 Western Avenue.

Gerald then moved to the basement of a house at 512 East 4th Street in Waterloo, which sat behind the current KWWL building. His father, Ray, who had first been a banker in Plainfield, Iowa then went on to built and run the bank in New Hartford. When the bank failed in the 1920's, he joined Gerald in his business as the bookkeeper and General Manager. This was a huge weight taken off Gerald's shoulders, who was interested in taking things apart and repairing them, before putting them back together rather than sorting over bank ledgers. From radios to generators to typewriters, along with public address & radar equipment, speakers, phonographs, cameras, receivers, televisions and much more, he would drive around in his service car and repair anything for people at an incredibly reasonable price! 

Pictured to the right - Ray and wife, Minnie, at the New Hartford State Bank. Along with Gerald's business card and stationary from Waterloo Communications, Inc. which Gerald also formed.

Gerald, also known as Jerry, was a hardworking man always striving to find ways to be of help for the people. He had a distinctive harelip, which he was very self conscious about. He married Alice Phobe (Pat) Smoker in 1937 and they had two children. Pat was a homemaker and hospital volunteer. Kay Farnsworth-Bothun was born in 1938 and passed away in 2001. She was married to Dick Bothun, who was employed for a short time at Farnsworth Electronics, they later divorced. James (nicknamed Jimmy or Jim) was born in 1944 and his legacy continues. 

Gerald's brother, Linden Farnsworth, got a job working as a salemen for Kodak. He spent many years in Shanghai, China and of course, Gerald being an avid traveler, he visited big brother on a few occasions.

Pictured to the right - Gerald in the 1940's along with a 2 page letter from his brother, Linden.

During World War II, 1939-1945, Gerald repaired Police and Fire equipment and was exempt from going to war, even though he was in the Civil Air Patrol, as his service was needed to keep our communication equipment running. When the use of commercial television was banned during the war, Gerald discovered manufacturers such as Rath Packing, Chamberlain Manufacturing, and John Deere needed help repairing their machines. So of course, Gerald, or one of his technicians were there in a blink of an eye. And it wasn't just electronic equipment they would repair. Welders and medical equipment like
X-rays and Diathermy machines needed repaired too. There really was no typical workday as Gerald would hop from John Deere to Rath Packing then over to Universal Hoist, Waterloo Valve Spring & Compressor and Viking Pump. And the list of customers just grew from there: Clay Equipment, Titus Manufacturing, Hinson's, Illinois Central Railroad and Shield Bantam soon needed his repair skills too. Farnsworth Electronics even contracted with UPS (United Parcel Service) even before John Deere would do so. 


Pictured to the left- Selective Service Affidavits (all 3 pages), 1943 Waterloo and Cedar Falls Maps
and a Hallicrafters Certificate received.

In 1949, Gerald's son, Jimmy, who started working at the store located at 623 Jefferson Street at the age of 5, remembers a lot from back then. This location was at the existing site of the Quality Inn Hotel and Farnsworth would be there until 1953. Jim was taught how to test radio tubes and was paid 5 cents per hour. Farnsworth Radio & Television would also install hundreds of home television antenas. Jim remembers unloading many semi loads of antennas. He'll tell stories about how, when television became affordable as 9 then 12 and finally 21 inches, Farnsworth Electronics would sell a plastic screen that green on the bottom, orange in the middle and blue on the top and transformed black and white television into color sets. According to Jim it made Westerns look pretty good, but it made Kate Smith look pretty bad. By this time, it had been just 22 years since Philo invited the television and there were over one million sets sold by 1949.

Gerald was also instrumental in getting WMT & KWWL (1947) on the air. In the mid 1940's, he business would install headboard radios at Allen, Schoitz, and St. Francis Hospitals. In the early 1950's, these would be exchanged for 12 inch black & white sets. The Waterloo Theaters the Paramont (East 4th Street), RKO Orpheum (West 4th Street), the Waterloo Theatre (Sycamore Street), Iowa Theatre (Commercial Street) and The Strand (also on East 4th Street) as well as Drive-In theatres like Skyview in Independence, the Starlight on University Avenue and Hillcrest Theatres in Cedar Falls also relied on Farnsworth for projector repairs.

Pictured to the right - A hospital patient enjoys the comforts of television along with some
Farnsworth Letterheads.

In 1954, 201 East Mullan Avenue (Hwy 63 S, corner of East Mullan & Sycamore Street) ended up being a grand location for the ultimate repair shop. The building had originally been built as an auction house. Gerald erected a 120 foot communications tower directly on top of the building. An investment that would continue on for decades. At peak there were 43 service technicians, which meant for a lot of repair vehicles, tool boxes & tools, and space, which they had in a 6,000 square foot facility.
That was year also pretty special for both Gerald and son Jim because they traveled to Haiti and Jamaica together on a church mission trip. They met Pastor Wood in Jamaica and Jim would visit often thereafter. 
In 1955, Gerald ran the sound system on Tuesday night called "Bank Night," at The Paramont Theatre. One Tuesday, it was the premier of "To Hell And Back," starring Audie Murphy, who was the most decorated Soldier of World War II.  Audie showed up to watch the movie so Jim got to meet him and watch the movie together. Noise was a big part of Gerald's life as he could always be found listening to music of some sort. When big bands would come to play at the Electric Park Ballroom, Gerald would hide microphones in the ceiling and record the shows. Sometimes being a sound technician has it's perks! Those traits carried on with Jim and Anji too.
In 1956, Farnsworth Radio & Television even installed the public address system at the Pillsbury Hall American Baptist Assembly in Green Lake, WI. Gerald was a devoted Baptist and did a lot of work for churches. He and his typewriter would continue correspondence with Pastor Wood along with Pastor Kelly and others he'd met while he was visiting.

Gerald had a great staff working for him. His father, Ray continued as manager and employees like Art Kays and Dick Bernard were instrumental to the success of the business. Service technicians like Jim Wheeler, Glenn Haberstich and Chid McCalley were very appreciated for all their hard work and knowledge. Former Waterloo Mayor Al Manning's mother, Mickey, even worked at Farnsworth Electronics for some years. Boy did newspaper advertising start to increase. You'll see this for years to come as well.


Pictured to the left - Loudspeaker Project from The National Cattle Congress Hippodrome and a 1956 newspaper advertisement.

In early 1960 Gerald purchased a 350 foot tower structure and it was disassembled and trucked here on semi flatbeds. It was then assembled, all but the last two sections. At 304 feet, it was the tallest tower structure in Waterloo. Made from solid steel (not tubular like most), this tower would go up with 21 Tons (7 per leg) of concrete for the base. It was the same construction as the University of Minnesota radio station and Clay Center, Nebraska. Contracted from Truscon Steel Products, Youngstown, Ohio. This tower would be used for 2 way radio transmissions not only by the local police and fire departments, but also service shops such as Young Plumbing. Later as technology evolved, the tower would be used for cell phone and internet communications. Gerald would be the one to climb the tower when the light bulbs needed changing, new antennas needed to be mounted or a wire just needed to be fixed. Communications systems were installed at Le Febure's in Cedar Rapids, Fisher Governor in Marshalltown, Waterloo Valve, Lutheran Mutual in Waverly and several others. Systems were also installed in my schools and colleges.
Hundreds of phone lines were piped into the downtown Mullan Avenue location used for playing background music, called Musak, in retail stores, doctors & dentist offices, and many other public establishments. This music came from a large tape recorder housed at the store. Music was purchased from a company in California and was professionally recorded on big reels that played for four hours, each direction. Ascap and BMI fees had to be paid on those tapes.

Pictured to the left - the new tower at Farnsworth Electronics along with aerial photos of Waterloo from the top of the tower. The newspaper advertisement is blurry, however, Watch Our New Tower Go Up! The tape player used over 75 years ago can still be found spinning, which was located in Gerald's office. Tower Control Box located inside the building, side and top Tower Becan Lights (housed at Farnsworth Electronics for display purposes)

The Electronics Industry was booming in the 1960's.
Customers were able to rent PA (Public Address) Systems for a fraction of the cost of buying new. Dukane Sound and Intercom Equipment were being installed all over the
Cedar Valley, including customers such as - 
Wartburg College, Chapel-Auditorium Sound System, 1960
Allen College Of Nursing, Telephone Communications System, 1961
Schoitz Memorial Hospital, Extended Care Unit, 1967
University of Northern Iowa, Physical Education Center Sound System, 1969
Cedar Falls High School, Sound System
Columbus High School, Sound System
Peet Junior High, Special Sound System

Antennas and amplifiers were still being installed. Televisions and radios were still being sold and repaired. If something was broke and needing fixing, Farnsworth Electronics was surely your place of choice. It was busy in downtown Waterloo!


Pictured to the right - Proposals including specification information for various customers. 1964 newspaper article about Farnsworth Electronics. Gerald's updated business card and a Webster Chicago PA system.

Founder, Gerald Farnsworth

The first to know!

Thank you!

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