Snapshots of History August 10, 2023
PROTECTED CONTENT
If you’re a current subscriber, log in below. If you would like to subscribe, please click the subscribe tab above.
Username and Password Help
Please enter your email and we will send your username and password to you.
Mount Ayr’s N. Taylor Street about 4 years ago.
By Mike Avitt
Today we will look at 117 North Taylor Street in Mount Ayr.
The building is currently That’s What She Read, a romance bookstore and event venue.
The building was constructed in 1893 for Eugene Vorpe. Mr. Vorpe did the carpentry work and George Smithson laid the brick.
Smithson’s other works include the Princess Theatre building in 1886.
Mr. Vorpe’s father-in-law was Thomas Ross, Ringgold County’s first Clerk of Court. Vorpe was a Civil War veteran and master carpenter who moved to Chanute, Kansas around 1904.
The building had a very large number of different occupants in the early days.
The downstairs had been a meat market, grocery, clothing store, drug store, restaurant, music store, tailor shop, and sewing machine business, all before 1916. The upstairs had been apartments, law offices, and insurance offices. In January 1901 the City of Mount Ayr rented the upstairs for a mayor’s office and city council room.
In February 1916 Hayes Main moved his restaurant to the ground floor and stayed until June 1949. Mr. Main’s specialty was chili and when he retired, he sold his chili recipe for $100 to a man from Creston.
Darrell Johnston bought the building at 117 N. Taylor in 1949.
Mickey Routh opened Mickey’s Cafe here in August 1952. This cafe was one of many locations that served as a bus depot. The cafe closed in 1956.
The next occupant was Don Friday with his TV, radio, and shoe repair business in February 1957. After ten years he moved the business to his home.
The Neighborhood Center had its first home at 117 N. Taylor in the summer of 1967. Richard Grose was the first director and he was succeeded by Mary Cavin in 1969. The Neighborhood Center moved to 122 S. Taylor in January 1980.
Northern Propane was the next occupant in May 1980. The office closed on September 1, 1981. I lose track of the building after that.
The building was remodeled inside and out in 2003 and 2004 and has had several occupants since then.
Taylor Street was called Depot Street in the old days. The building to the north of the Vorpe building was called the Record Office. The building at 115 N. Taylor was called the (A. C.) Payne building.
I’ll be speaking at the Mount Ayr Public Library during Ayr Days in August. I’ll be talking about the early days of Hy-Vee.
