The spotlight will shine on home-grown inventors and their innovations at the Putnam Museum and Science Center at 3 p.m. Friday, April 26, when the Davenport museum cuts the ribbon on its new permanent Quad City Innovators exhibit.
Stakeholders and member of the media are invited to gather to celebrate the new permanent history exhibit that highlights inventors, innovators, and trailblazers who hail from the Quad Cities, the Putnam said in a news release.
“This exhibit is a great way to celebrate the innovation that comes from our community and inspire visitors to trailblaze in their own ways,” Kelly Lao, the Putnam’s vice president of museum experience & education, said in the release.
The Quad City Innovators opening also caps off a remodeling and construction project that expanded the footprint of the museum, the news release said. That remodel added 1,000 square feet of public exhibit space that was closed to the public. It also made it easier to access the Putnam’s GIANT Screen Theater lobby. Renovation work was made possible, in part, by Bechtal Trust, Carver Trust, SCRA, Ascentra Foundation, Hubbel-Waterman Trust, Goldstein Family, Schermer Family and Arconic Foundation.
Who, what’s on display?
A sampling of the people and inventions featured in the new, permanent Quad City Innovators exhibit includes:
- Otto Rohwedder, bread slicer.
- J.F. McCullough, Cecil Medd and Henry C. Duke, Dairy Queen and soft serve ice cream.
- Palmer Family, chiropractic.
- Voss Brothers, washing machine.
- John Deere, steel plow.
- Joe Whitty, taco pizza.
- Fred Lundahl, Buddy L toys.
- Fred Boetje, Boetje’s Mustard.
- Nelly Cheboi, CNN Hero of the Year 2022 and founder of TechLit Africa.
- Dr. William West Grant, first successful appendectomy.
- Gene Baker, first African American on the Cubs roster.
- Mary Solbrig, early airplane mechanic.
- Chad Pregracke, environmentalist and 2002 Jefferson Award recipient.
Exhibit designed to inspire
Quad City Innovators “shares the incredible stories of Quad City innovators, inventors, and trailblazers through artifacts, stories, hands-on interactives, and fun learning experiences in our updated Fab Lab,” which opened in late April for drop-in makers and educational experiences, the museum release said. The innovator exhibit’s goal is to spark hometown pride and inspire future change-makers right here in our community.
“The Putnam’s Innovators exhibit offers visitors an opportunity to see how many creative people we have in the Quad Cities and the world,” said Christina Kastell, curator of history and anthropology. “Every child will be able to see someone who looks like them and find inspiration to become innovators themselves.”
Quad City Innovators is open to the public. This exhibit is included in the price of general admission — $12 for adults, $10 for youth (ages 3–18), college students, and $8 for seniors and military.
Through the Putnam’s Museums for All program, admission is $1 per person for households with the presentation of an EBT card. Admission is free for members. For more information, visit https://www.putnam.org/.
