Snapshots of History: East side of the Mount Ayr square

By Editor | February 12, 2025 |

East side of the Mount Ayr square about 1900.

By Mike Avitt
This is the best picture I have of the well on the southeast corner of the Mount Ayr square.
The photo was taken from the roof of a building that sat where city hall is today and is looking north to the Timby building. I know this photo was taken between 1891 and 1904.
The well was there to supply local businesses but also to provide water for the horses that brought shoppers to the business district. The photo also clearly reveals the advertising business sign of George Slentz’s dry goods store.
This week, we continue with our tour of the square in the year 1893.
The building that sat on the south end of the east side of the square was built in two different time periods. 122 S. Taylor was built for William Timby in 1880. 116, 118, and 120 S. Taylor was built in 1882 for Timby and local attorney J. F. Mount.
George Slentz occupied 122 and 120 S. Taylor in 1893. He would move to 108-110 S. Taylor in late 1903 and stay there until his passing in 1920. Mr. Slentz was a well-know and much respected retailer, but also had a long tenure as Superintendent of the Sunday School, Mount Ayr United Presbyterian Church.
My plat map of 1893 says there was a grocery store at 118 S. Taylor in 1893. It may have been William DeLashmutt’s grocery as I don’t know where he was before he moved to 104 S. Taylor in December 1892. 116 S. Taylor was most likely J. H. Richardson’s Jewelry store. My plat map says a jewelry business was here in 1893 and the newspaper says Richardson moved to the east side in April 1886. John Lineburg joined this business in 1890. Mr. Lineburg was a native of Sweden.
The next two lots north were both vacant in 1893. William Simpson would build a two-story, brick building at 112 S. Taylor in 1899.
Across the alley north at 108-110 S. Taylor was another new two-story, brick Timby building. This building was built in 1891 and occupied in January 1892.
The ground floor in the north storefront was J. F. Wall’s grocery store. Mr. Wall would be in the grocery business for over forty years. The south half was the drug store of B. C. Warren. The upstairs would be occupied by Henry Parsons with his insurance business. It was common for upstairs offices to be occupied by lawyers, insurance agents, doctors, tailors, photographers, et al.
Most unfortunately, this building burned in April 1897. It was a complete loss and when Timby built it back, he made it only one-story. An addition was built on the rear of this building (Lucky Lanes, today) in 1903.
Moving north, 106 S. Taylor was also a new building. Martha Merrill, wife of Dr. John T. Merrill, had a women’s clothing store here in 1893. Mrs. Merrill and her daughter Julia were in the millinery business for many years. Next door, at 104 S. Taylor was the grocery store of William DeLashmutt.
The two buildings at 104 and 106 S. Taylor were built at the same time, in 1892, for J. R. Henderson. Mr. Henderson had been a Mount Ayr businessman for many years. Mr. DeLashmutt was deaf but he held many responsible positions in Mount Ayr including postmaster.
The two-story, brick building at 102 S. Taylor was built in 1892 for A. O. Ingram. A fire in November 1889 took out all the buildings from the corner to the alley and that’s why all these buildings were constructed at the same time.
I think Rhoades Brothers were the first occupant at 102 S. Taylor, with their book and stationary store.
The building on the corner was built in 1892 as Citizens Bank for Day Dunning. Mr. Dunning was the son of Mount Ayr founders, Barton and Laura Dunning. The brick and stone was laid by master mason H. U. Greenlee of Bedford. Day’s brother Frank was also a bank president about this time, also in Bedford.
The first brick store building in Mount Ayr was on the corner where Shafer Insurance is today. It was built about 1870 and was lost to fire in 1890. That corner would stay vacant until 1931 when Fay Bryant built the sandwich shop.