This past summer, Mary Lou, Rita and Sheila Kovac of Johnston City were moving out of their ancestral home and donated numerous articles to the museum. Their Grgurich family members had lived in the house since around 1920 after their original immigrant ancestor, Frank Grgurich, who shifted their name to Gregovich, had migrated from Croatia in 1907. The family hosted the arrival of several Eastern European families to Johnston City over the years.
Two of the items donated were in the possession of the family for decades and originally belonged to the Trout family of Johnston City. John Richard Trout, known as Dick, started up the Trout Shoe Repair shop in Johnston City and it stayed in operation from 1914 till 1971, later under the operation of Dick’s son. As the story goes, one of the Trout family borrowed money from Joe Gregovich many decades ago and two pieces of shoe repair equipment were held as collateral against the loan which was never recovered so the equipment sat in storage deteriorating.
The equipment consisting of a shoe line finisher and a shoe repair work stand was donated to the museum and after 45-50 hours of restoration work the items are now held on display in fully functioning operation. Even the electric motor which has a patent date of 1901 is fully operational. The accompanying pictures illustrate its condition before and after restoration and the new display at the museum explains the use of the pieces. One of the photos show Dick Trout ca 1915 in his shoe repair business and if you look closely behind the man in the striped coveralls you will see one of the pieces of equipment.
