Today in Wheeling History: April 25—George Rentsch, Wheeling businessman and co-owner of the Geo. M. Snook Dry Goods Co., was granted U.S. Patent No. 496,230 for an improved cloak rack (1893).
George Rentsch was born on January 29, 1856, on Wheeling Island, when Wheeling was still part of Virginia. The son of J. Daniel Rentsch, a carpenter, he attended Wheeling public schools until age eleven, then worked as an errand boy for several city businesses, including Fisher & Seaman and A. D. Seaman. He later spent five years with C. T. Brues before joining the mercantile firm of George E. Stifel & Company as a bookkeeper in 1878.
In 1884, Rentsch became a co-founder of George M. Snook & Company, a retail dry goods firm at 1110–1114 Main Street in Wheeling. On April 25, 1893, he was granted U.S. Patent No. 496,230 for an improved cloak rack featuring a folding fender device designed to support a dust cloth over displayed garments without soiling or pressing them out of shape. The device could be folded compactly within the rack frame when not in use. His patent witnesses included his brother Louis Rentsch and Albert L. Wilkie, both fellow members of the Snook firm.
Rentsch and his wife, Lydia Anna Ritter, a Wheeling native, had six children and were members of the Central Methodist Church. He resided for many years at 228 Carmel Road in the Pleasant Valley neighborhood of Wheeling, a home designed by the prominent Wheeling architectural firm of Giesey & Faris. He died on October 31, 1953, at the Rest Haven Nursing Home in Martins Ferry at age 97 and was buried in Peninsula Cemetery in Wheeling.
To learn more: Ohio County Public Library Archives, Wheeling WV (https://tinyurl.com/mwhxfy9w); Find a Grave (https://tinyurl.com/ackwhanv), WVGenWeb – Ohio County (https://tinyurl.com/2wukweb3), Google Patents (https://tinyurl.com/yhkdfve5), Wheeling News-Register (https://tinyurl.com/4mtdfswz) (https://tinyurl.com/3tbkcr2p), Wikipedia (https://tinyurl.com/2kfsew8j)
Photo credits: Ohio County Public Library Archives, Wheeling WV; Find a Grave, West Virginia History OnView, Wheeling News-Register
George Rentsch was born on January 29, 1856, on Wheeling Island, when Wheeling was still part of Virginia. The son of J. Daniel Rentsch, a carpenter, he attended Wheeling public schools until age eleven, then worked as an errand boy for several city businesses, including Fisher & Seaman and A. D. Seaman. He later spent five years with C. T. Brues before joining the mercantile firm of George E. Stifel & Company as a bookkeeper in 1878.
In 1884, Rentsch became a co-founder of George M. Snook & Company, a retail dry goods firm at 1110–1114 Main Street in Wheeling. On April 25, 1893, he was granted U.S. Patent No. 496,230 for an improved cloak rack featuring a folding fender device designed to support a dust cloth over displayed garments without soiling or pressing them out of shape. The device could be folded compactly within the rack frame when not in use. His patent witnesses included his brother Louis Rentsch and Albert L. Wilkie, both fellow members of the Snook firm.
Rentsch and his wife, Lydia Anna Ritter, a Wheeling native, had six children and were members of the Central Methodist Church. He resided for many years at 228 Carmel Road in the Pleasant Valley neighborhood of Wheeling, a home designed by the prominent Wheeling architectural firm of Giesey & Faris. He died on October 31, 1953, at the Rest Haven Nursing Home in Martins Ferry at age 97 and was buried in Peninsula Cemetery in Wheeling.
To learn more: Ohio County Public Library Archives, Wheeling WV (https://tinyurl.com/mwhxfy9w); Find a Grave (https://tinyurl.com/ackwhanv), WVGenWeb – Ohio County (https://tinyurl.com/2wukweb3), Google Patents (https://tinyurl.com/yhkdfve5), Wheeling News-Register (https://tinyurl.com/4mtdfswz) (https://tinyurl.com/3tbkcr2p), Wikipedia (https://tinyurl.com/2kfsew8j)
Photo credits: Ohio County Public Library Archives, Wheeling WV; Find a Grave, West Virginia History OnView, Wheeling News-Register
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