Powering a 230v air compressor

Yup. My dad used to give our neighbor up the street "ell" For a very long time they only had 120V. Sometime they bought a washer / dryer pair, but for many many years the dryer sat unused!!! and unconnected!! on the back porch. He finally built a pole shop, and had 240 run into the meter/ pole/ shop from the street, but to the day he died, never did get 220 into the house!!!