The Cole Brothers Pump and Lightning Rod Company

A familiar figure on the roads of the Middle West during the second half of the last century was the lightning-rod salesman with his wagon. In an area frequently visited by thunder storms, there was a ready market for the latest adaptation of Franklin's protective device. Even in frontier towns, new buildings were not long unequipped with rods, their points tipped with platinum and perhaps ornamented with glass balls. The preservation of two record books, a ledger, and a few letters enables us to tell the story (or at least part of it) of the firm largely responsible for the widespread acceptance of this method of protection against lightning. Cole Brothers, of Mount Pleasant in southeastern Iowa, was a family company, but the fact that its owners were four brothers does not mean that the minutes of their meetings are any less frank or complete. One must only regret that the surviving volumes start after the business had been under way for some time and stop many years before the firm disbanded. However, the story of the intervening years in the life of the company reveals not only steady growth, despite temporary setbacks, but also the interplay of personalities. An enterprise responsible for a product in common use by our ancestors (one which shows signs of returning popularity) is for a moment illumined.