Snapshots of History: Mount Ayr Post Office
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Mount Ayr’s new Post Office in 1890.
I am a member of the planning committee for the Mount Ayr Sesquicentennial Celebration which will be held next year.
We have discussed many ideas including placing placards or signs on historic buildings indicating when they were built and what was the initial purpose of the building.
But what about the buildings that are gone now? Well, we could place a captioned picture on the building that occupies that site today. That would probably work.
This week’s picture comes from page 37 of the Mount Ayr Centennial Book and shows a wood plank sidewalk putting the photo in the early 1890s time frame.
The building was erected in the second half of 1890 after William Timby met with Mr. Eaton, a traveling inspector from the United States Postal Department.
The building would be Mount Ayr’s new Post Office, a double storefront, one-story brick, measuring 35 by 22 feet with the post office being located in the north half. This lot had previously been occupied by Tuttle’s Restaurant but was lost in a fire in April 1890.
The new post office opened the last week of October 1890 and was located at 111 N. Taylor, across the street from the present-day Senior Center.
The business space in the south half of the building was occupied by the millinery store of Martha Merrill. Mrs. Merrill was the wife of Dr. J. T. Merrill and Martha was in the millinery business for decades.
The building featured in this week’s article was demolished in 1996.
The south part of the building was used mostly by barbers. It was a barber shop beginning in 1915 and was home to H. E. Callen, E. M. Dunbar, Cortus Wood, Clell Fuller, William Belvel, Frank Mowry, Lee Frost, Floyd Tallman, and Billie Buell. Mr. Buell started work at 109 N. Taylor in 1921 and stayed until 1961 at which time he relocated to Redding.
Mr. Buell’s wife was a school teacher at Redding, hence the move. Mr. Buell moved back to his Mount Ayr shop in 1963. Bill Wheeler operated Buell’s shop in his absence. Buell retired in 1964.
The north half served as a restaurant and other businesses until 1916 when Earl Middlesworth opened a bakery in the former post office.
After four years the business had grown to the point of needing more space for additional equipment.
Middlesworth added onto the rear of his bakery in 1920.
