Snapshots of History: Freeland’s Store

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Mike Avitt

I always seek the history of a Mount Ayr business because I find it interesting.
Sometimes, I find the family history interesting, too, and such is the case with Freeland’s Department Store.

Montgomery Edward Freeland was born June 6, 1861, along with his twin brother, in Illinois. The twins, M. E. and John Nathaniel, were raised in Corydon, Iowa. M. E. was nicknamed “Ned” and J. N. was nicknamed “Nat.”
Montgomery married Kitty McVay in June 1886 and they migrated to Mount Ayr soon after that. M. E. went to work as a clerk in the J. S. Kirby store (Montgomery’s mother’s maiden name was Kirby).

He soon moved up to the larger Huggins & Saville Store, and then went into a clothing business partnership with J. R. Henderson in the new Timby building at 100-102 W. Madison. This was in January 1891, just after the building was erected for William Timby.

Henderson was a well-known businessman and builder but the partnership dissolved in May 1892 and Freeland went solo at the same location. In fact, M. E. would be here until 1933.

At first, Freeland only occupied half of the double storefront in the Timby building, but in 1899 he rented the other half to enlarge his clothing and dry goods business. He also had part of the upstairs.
From 1902 until 1918, Freeland had four short-lived partners in his enterprise, including his twin brother, J. N. The other three were M. A. Campbell, C. B. Carr, and Richard Loutzenhiser. But, Freeland’s Department Store carried on.

In 1909, Freeland’s wife Kitty died. They had no children together, but at some point Edna Dowling and Edna Freeland came into the household. This was probably after Freeland married one of his employees, Margaret “Marge” Dowling.

She was born October 31, 1880 and married M. E. on May 16, 1911, so she was 30 and he was a month shy of being 50. Together, they had a son, John, and although I didn’t find his birth date, he graduated from Mount Ayr High in 1931 so he was born about 1913.

Edna Freeland was probably the daughter of Frank Freeland, Montgomery’s other brother. Frank moved around a great deal (Caledonia, Mount Ayr, Athelstan, Allendale) so likely Edna came to live with M. E. and Marge for school reasons. Edna Dowling I don’t know, but the the Dowling family was a large one.
Fire broke out down the street in February 1933 with Anna Bement, widow of Dr. Bement, as owner and she had the building reconstructed and fit up for Freeland’s store. So, after forty-two years, Freeland’s Department Store moved to 114 W. Madison, the current location of Aunt Jennie’s Attic. This was in December 1933.

Montgomery Edward Freeland died August 22, 1935. By this time, Marge had over 25 years experience in the clothing business and son John was four years removed from high school. Together, they would build the business bigger and more modern.
In September 1944, John and Marge bought the building at 108-110 S. Taylor, the current location of Lucky Lanes. The owner then was Lee Timby, son of William Timby, and the occupants were Todd Hardware and Prentis Hatchery. By November 1947 both of those businesses had moved out and work began on transforming the building.
On August 27 and 28, 1948, the formal opening of Freeland’s Department Store took place at 108-110 South Taylor Street. The store was modern in every way and included a large line of appliances as rural Ringgold County was being opened up to electricity at this time. Tremendous success and a state-of-the-art building caught the attention of W. A. Cash, a representative of the W. G. Woodward Company of St. Louis. Freeland’s got an offer they couldn’t refuse and the department store became Woodward’s in July 1949.
Marge retired and John went to work for Schweser’s Clothing Company, achieving the position of general manager in less than seven years. John died in Winter Haven, Florida in September 1996.
This week’s photo shows Freeland’s Department Store at 108 S. Taylor in 1948 with its all glass front and beautiful exterior.