Snapshots of History by Mike Avitt
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This is another picture postcard from the Linda Swanson collection. It shows the north side of the Mount Ayr square before 1915. I’ve written about the north side many times so I’ll try to give the readers some fresh information this week.
The Timby building (100-102 W. Madison) was built in 1890 and bears the “TIMBY” name at the top. I find this interesting because Timby erected seven brick buildings and none of the others had his name on them. This was the fourth brick building Timby financed.
102 W. Madison was the home of M. E. Freeland’s first store; a business that would last for 58 years. 100 W. Madison was the second location of Luce’s Drug Store which would eventually become McNeiley Drug at 102 S. Taylor.
104, 106 and 108 W. Madison were built almost at the same time in 1893. Many two-story brick buildings were built on the Mount Ayr square in 1890-91. But, in 1892-93, five one-story brick stores were built and I don’t know the reason for the change.
106 and 108 were financed by Mary Sellards, widow of Dr. D. F. Sellards. Dr. Sellards was an early Mount Ayr banker who died in 1879. It was a large and successful family with two of the children dying before adulthood. The family was active in the community. 108 was first occupied by L. C. Shepherd, whose brother, J. S. Shepherd, was the editor and publisher of the Mount Ayr Journal, one of three Mount Ayr newspapers at the time. L. C. Shepherd was a harness maker. 108 W. Madison has the distinction of retaining its original facade while 106 and 104 do not. The brick work on 108 and 106 was done by the master mason from Bedford, H. U. Greenlee.
106 W. Madison was first occupied by J. C. Saltzman and one of the Sellards boys, maybe Joseph W. Sellards. Joe later went to med school and set up practice in Clarinda. Their business was groceries.
104 was built for Dr. J. T. Merrill as a drug store; Sig Warner was the contractor. 104 would remain a drug store until 2001.
Dr. Merrill had an interesting career, but so did his wife Martha. She had multiple millinery businesses and was followed in that line of work by her daughter Julia. Dr. Merrill died in 1904 and eight years later, Martha financed the construction of the one-story brick at 110 E. Madison. At the same time, Wm. Timby’s widow, Martha (Lee) Timby, financed the erection of the one-story brick next door west at 108 E. Madison.
The building at 110 W. Madison is the oldest building on the north side of the square. It was built in the first half of 1890 and opened in July as a meat market. It would remain a butcher shop until the mid-1930s. It was owned by Jacob Rabb and J. H. “Harve” Seevers. Seevers was a carpenter and lumberman, besides being in the retail meat business. He and his son-in-law Clyde Rusk built many homes in Mount Ayr.
Jacob Rabb was the brother-in-law of Belle McWilliams, who owned some of the land the Highland Addition (Dunning Avenue) is on. Rabb’s son-in-law, Dr. F. C. Smith, had the house at 104 W. Jefferson St. built in 1905. Dr. Smith then financed the construction of the one-story brick at 109 E. Madison in 1907. Both buildings are still standing.
112 W. Madison was built in 1891 by H. U. Greenlee for H. H. Wilson as a grocery store. It would remain a grocery store until 1964.
114 W. Madison was built in 1897 for John Blauer as a variety store. 116 W. Madison was built in 1902 for Martha (Lee) Timby. She had the name “TIMBY” placed at the top. 118 W. Madison was built for Amos “Fatty” Collins in 1902 and he had his surname placed at the top of his two-story brick building. Fatty was a restaurateur and baker. 116 and 118 W. Madison were torn down in 1988.
