Today in Wheeling History: February 25--Guy G. Groves, Wheeling police officer and inventor, filed his patent for a shoe-shining cabinet (1922).
Guy Geoffrey Groves, inventor, law enforcement officer, and civic figure, was born on March 25, 1871, at Short Creek in Ohio County, West Virginia, to William P. and Caroline Tuttle Groves. He was educated in the public schools of Ohio County. He later settled in Wheeling, residing at 77 Virginia Street on the Island.
Groves served as a member of the Wheeling Police Department under Chief Thomas Leyland and subsequently worked for many years as a special officer at the Benwood plant of the Wheeling Steel Corporation. Parallel to his law enforcement career, he served as banker for Wheeling Camp 474 of the Modern Woodmen of America for thirty years, retiring from that role in 1945.
On February 25, 1922, Groves filed a patent application for an improved shoe-shining cabinet — a compact, multi-purpose piece of household furniture housing shoe-cleaning accessories, a hinged foot-form, a folding support bracket, and a built-in seat. The patent, No. US1450076A, was granted on March 27, 1923. He assigned one-fourth interest in the patent to fellow Wheeling resident Holly Sayre.
Groves was a Protestant and a member of Wheeling Lodge No. 647, Modern Woodmen of America. He married Minnie Snider, and the couple had one daughter, Mildred Groves, a teacher at Madison School in Wheeling.
Groves retired approximately two years before his death. He died on June 2, 1947, at Ohio Valley General Hospital at the age of 76, after a brief hospitalization. Funeral services were held at Kepner's Funeral Home, 1308 Chapline Street, with the Rev. F. Graham Luckenbill of St. Paul's Episcopal Church officiating. He was interred at Greenwood Cemetery in Wheeling.
To learn more: Wheeling News-Register (https://tinyurl.com/mjmu5ktj), Wheeling Intelligencer (https://tinyurl.com/2wdtxsuv), Google Patents (https://tinyurl.com/4xcvme8w), Find a Grave (https://tinyurl.com/3j247ujm)
Photo credits: U.S. Patent Office, Find a Grave, Wheeling News-Register, Wheeling Intelligencer
Guy Geoffrey Groves, inventor, law enforcement officer, and civic figure, was born on March 25, 1871, at Short Creek in Ohio County, West Virginia, to William P. and Caroline Tuttle Groves. He was educated in the public schools of Ohio County. He later settled in Wheeling, residing at 77 Virginia Street on the Island.
Groves served as a member of the Wheeling Police Department under Chief Thomas Leyland and subsequently worked for many years as a special officer at the Benwood plant of the Wheeling Steel Corporation. Parallel to his law enforcement career, he served as banker for Wheeling Camp 474 of the Modern Woodmen of America for thirty years, retiring from that role in 1945.
On February 25, 1922, Groves filed a patent application for an improved shoe-shining cabinet — a compact, multi-purpose piece of household furniture housing shoe-cleaning accessories, a hinged foot-form, a folding support bracket, and a built-in seat. The patent, No. US1450076A, was granted on March 27, 1923. He assigned one-fourth interest in the patent to fellow Wheeling resident Holly Sayre.
Groves was a Protestant and a member of Wheeling Lodge No. 647, Modern Woodmen of America. He married Minnie Snider, and the couple had one daughter, Mildred Groves, a teacher at Madison School in Wheeling.
Groves retired approximately two years before his death. He died on June 2, 1947, at Ohio Valley General Hospital at the age of 76, after a brief hospitalization. Funeral services were held at Kepner's Funeral Home, 1308 Chapline Street, with the Rev. F. Graham Luckenbill of St. Paul's Episcopal Church officiating. He was interred at Greenwood Cemetery in Wheeling.
To learn more: Wheeling News-Register (https://tinyurl.com/mjmu5ktj), Wheeling Intelligencer (https://tinyurl.com/2wdtxsuv), Google Patents (https://tinyurl.com/4xcvme8w), Find a Grave (https://tinyurl.com/3j247ujm)
Photo credits: U.S. Patent Office, Find a Grave, Wheeling News-Register, Wheeling Intelligencer
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