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House at 306 S. Taylor in Mount Ayr.
By Mike Avitt
I first moved to Mount Ayr 54 years ago and have lived in about fifteen different locations here since then.
Many of those residences are no longer standing.
Sometimes, I grab a large coffee and drive around Mount Ayr looking at houses, especially older houses. I will point out there is one couple on my old newspaper route still living in the same house 54 years later.
Let’s examine some Mount Ayr houses.
This week’s picture comes from Barney’s Horne’s scrapbook and shows the Lutrick house at 306 S. Taylor Street.
Barney lived here with his family, his father John being a local pharmacist. I would guess this photo was taken around 1905. Barney graduated from Mount Ayr High School in 1916.
I have found a couple of blurbs in old newspapers that told me this house was built in 1894-95 by the contracting firm of Warner Brothers. Sig Warner was a popular builder during this time frame.
John Horne died in 1913 and his wife Mary is reported in the Record-News as selling the house to Taylor Grimes in 1914.
I recently found the construction of the house at 204 Shellway Drive in 1919. The August 6, 1919 Record-News says I. J. Dalbey, owner of the Mount Ayr Lumber Company, is building two houses, one house being across the street from Howard Tedford’s house at 201 Shellway Drive. That house is described as being two-story, stucco house being 28 feet by 32 feet in size. That describes 204 Shellway Drive. I didn’t find the location of the other house.
Armstrong Funeral Home was a house turned into a funeral parlor in 1930 by Thomas S. Rhoades. I found that house was built in the spring of 1889 for Ezra McMaster, a local lawyer and real estate agent. Of course, the business looks nothing like the original house as numerous additions have been built since 1930. I believe McMaster had the building at 103 W. Monroe (rAYR Market) erected sometime around 1890. That was the location of his loan office for many years.
The house at 301 N. Taylor has puzzled me for years. This is the former Scott and Delores Stutzman home.
The newspaper says I. J. Dalbey moved here in November 1918, having bought the house from William Thomas Timby. William Thomas was the son of brick building builder William Timby.
Archie Dunfee bought the house in 1952 and turned it into a funeral home making additions and modifications. So, this building no longer resembles its original appearance.
What I don’t understand is the location. This house was obviously built by a wealthy party on a lot that would see a huge number of pedestrians between the depot and the business district. Anyway, after the funeral home closed the building became Mount Ayr Furniture Store in 1973.
The furniture closed about 2004. The house is now being used as a house again.
I often get asked about when a house was built or who built it.
The digitized newspapers are useful to a degree. Very often the papers will announce the construction or the completion of a house but the location will be given as, “the east part of town” or “north of the Huggins property.” I would think deeds, titles, abstracts, and land transfers would be more useful.
On rare occasions books such as centennial books, phone books, and history books give information on house construction or location. I do not know how far building permits go back or if they are available online, but that would be another source.
Happy hunting!
