These ads appeared a hundred years ago in the May 1920 issue of Electrical Experimenter.  The one that caught my eye was the ad for the Rogers Bros. safety razor, using Gillette blades, from the D.A.R. Sales Company of 2521 17th Avenue South, Minneapolis.

The 1920 Minneapolis City Directory shows no company by that name. However, the current building at that address, a small apartment building, was built in 1917.  In 1920, it was the residence of one Freeman T. Rogers, a clerk with Northwest Marble & Tile Co. Since he has the same surname as the razor, I assume he was the proprietor. Two other men, Arthur J. Nordstrom, employed as an estimator by Janney Semple Hill & Co., and David M Burns, a laborer, are also listed as residing at that address.

Rogers, born about 1895, is listed in the 1940 census, still living in South Minneapolis.  This would have made him about 25 years old at the time of his entrepreneurial venture into the home-based razor business.  I wonder if his bosses at the marble company knew if he was moonlighting.

For others looking for a business to get into, the battery charging business couldn’t be beat, as shown by the second ad.