Snapshots of History

By Editor | April 2, 2025 |

House in Mount Ayr built by Andrew Ingram.

By Mike Avitt
I did not plan an article this week so we’ll continue with Mount Ayr houses and I’ll give you some information I left out of last week’s article.
Although I’m not a member, I sometimes attend meetings of the Ringgold County Historic Preservation Commission. I like to call myself a “consultant” but “contributor” would be more accurate.
The historic preservation is looking at designating three areas of Mount Ayr as “historic districts.”
These districts are the square and surrounding business streets, Sheldon Heights, and West Madison.
If I were to add another area, it would be East Jefferson Street and the first block of West Jefferson Street. This was an important street in the old days as it was a major thoroughfare and the main route between the school and the business district. Many lawyers, judges, and other dignitaries lived on this street.
This week’s photo shows the house at 103 W. Jefferson Street that Andrew Ingram built in 1880. This picture came from the June 12, 1896 edition of the Twice-A-Week News.
The house was occupied by Andrew Ingram’s son, Adalaska Oliver Ingram, in 1896. A. O. Ingram’s neighbor was M. L. Bevis, another well-to-do Mount Ayr business man. Mr Bevis’s house later became the Baptist Church parsonage.
Nina (Miller) Allyn wrote about the house at 103 W. Jefferson in her memoirs. She lived here around 1900 to 1905.
I believe Randolph Sry Beall later owned this house. Across the street was a house that William Thomas Timby (William Timby’s son) owned as well as I. J. Dalbey.
Other notables who lived on the 100 block of West Jefferson were Dr. F. C. Smith, Judge Charles Lewis, and attorney Albert I. Smith.
Judge Fuller, Judge Spence, Dr. Mitchell, attorney Grant Hayes, Ringgold County historian MaryAnn Lesan, Security State Bank President Christiansen, and others lived on East Jefferson.
There were also two churches on East Jefferson: United Presbyterian and Advent Christian Church.
Much history in a six block span. And, yes, I lived on East Jefferson from 1995 to 1997. Let’s look at some other neighborhoods.
About 1880, C. B. Morris and George Allyn, the founders of the Mount Ayr Bank, bought some land north of Columbus Street and divided those acres into residential lots. The north-south streets were extended north and the new east-west streets of Maple, Oak, Walnut, and Elm were established.
The first houses were built there in 1881. This section of town was called the Morris-Allyn Addition.
In 1913, Frank Sheldon developed the old Chautauqua grounds into Sheldon Heights. In 1916, the Highland Addition (Dunning Avenue) began to get some serious construction going and the city of Mount Ayr was obligated to bring water service to that neighborhood.
In 1917, the Home Development Association began selling residential lots east of Lincoln Street in east Mount Ayr. This was mostly along Monroe Street which was becoming a state highway instead of the Waubonsie Trail, its former designation.
There are very few original houses left in this neighborhood, which was called the Kirby Addition 115 years ago.
Sunset Lane in west Mount Ayr was developed in 1961. Sometimes I re-trace my old newspaper route in Mount Ayr to see how many of the houses are still standing. The number is about 50 percent.
Sometimes things change so slowly that we don’t see it.
You may have noticed many of the houses in Mount Ayr got new siding this past twelve months as a result of our April hail storm last year. Many of the property owners went with a darker color, I noticed.
Darker shingles, too. I like it. The sun tends to bleach out darker colors, but maybe it will happen so slowly that we don’t see it.