John T McGrath came to Bloomington from Battle Creek, Michigan in the fall of 1910. He brought with him his wife Anna and his children Herbert, Margaret, and Anna. John was the Superintendent of Motive Power at the Alton Shops. He had started his work in the railroad industry at the age of 13 (in 1882) in the yards of the Grand Trunk railroad of Ontario. Fifteen years later he was a foreman in the shops in Stratford, Ontario. He must have been a man of great intelligence, who was able to rise through the ranks of the railroad yard with little more than a grade school education.
Within a couple of years of his arrival, John McGrath, along with his son Herbert, had started his own manufacturing concern to produce the devices he invented for automobiles, trains and labor saving home appliances. He invented a reflector for cars, which he suggested could take the place of the rear lights on cars. He created two different models of washing machines and displayed them at local stores. He even developed a can opener. He developed this walker for invalids.
His inventions also included railroad safety devices, windshield wipers for trolley cars, pneumatic hammers, and automatic flue cleaners. His products were sold throughout the world.
In 1928 Herbert McGrath was providing radio entertainment over the telephone wires to several business places in Bloomington. A radio in his office broad cast the radio shows to other locations, but Herbert McGrath would not reveal the methods used to transmit the radio messages with little or no interference. Like his father, Herbert did not receive a formal education. He managed J T McGrath and Son until about 1949 and in later years Herbert McGrath worked as a consultant to Wilson Engineering.