The changing face of downtown
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By Olivia West
MOUNT AYR — Downtown Mount Ayr is changing. Not necessarily in the dramatic way that makes headlines about small-town Main Streets disappearing. Instead, the changes are happening one storefront, one business and one building at a time.
Some familiar businesses are changing hands. Others are moving to different locations. Historic buildings are taking on new uses, while longtime gathering places are preparing to open their doors again.
At the same time, the city is making changes to the downtown streetscape that could alter the way residents and visitors move through the center of town.
One of the most visible recent changes is taking place at 115 N. Taylor St., where the Trails End Saloon currently operates. The two-story downtown building is being sold as real estate, while the business itself is moving around the corner to a larger location.
That distinction is important in understanding what is happening downtown. A building changing hands does not necessarily mean a business is leaving Mount Ayr.
In another part of downtown, a familiar name is preparing to return.
Lefty’s Club Tavern, at 111 E. Madison St., closed in May 2025 after more than 70 years in business. New owners are now remodeling the building with plans to reopen the establishment as a sports bar and local gathering place.
The building itself dates to 1897 and has housed a number of businesses over the years before becoming Lefty’s. The tavern operated under the Geist family for decades and became a familiar part of Mount Ayr’s social life.
The reopening represents something slightly different from simply filling an empty storefront. It is an attempt to take a familiar downtown institution and give it another chapter.
Other downtown businesses continue to fill the traditional roles that have long made a county-seat square useful. Aunt Jennie’s Attic remains on the square, while businesses such as NAPA Auto Parts – Bendell Corporation, Podium Ink and Greggo’s Pizza & Sandwiches provide services and places to eat within the downtown area.
New business in and around the square continue to open as well. Longtime business on Higway 2, such as Rumors changed hands and brought about new signage.
Mount Ayr is also in the middle of a downtown revitalization project. The project is being funded through a combination of grant programs, including Rural Transformation Grants and USDA funding. Downtown businesses are expected to remain accessible during construction.
That means the physical appearance and function of downtown could look different even as many of the businesses themselves remain.
For a town like Mount Ayr, that distinction matters.
A downtown is more than a collection of buildings. It is where people meet for lunch, stop to run errands, conduct business, browse a store, attend a community event or simply walk across the square.
It is also a place where the past tends to remain visible.
The courthouse continues to anchor the square. Historic buildings still line the surrounding streets. Some businesses have occupied the same general area for generations, while others represent newer approaches to doing business in a small community.
The challenge for any small-town downtown is finding room for both.
Mount Ayr appears to be doing that in a variety of ways — through new ownership, businesses changing locations, new businesses filling storefronts and public investment in the downtown environment.
The result is not a downtown that looks exactly as it did 10, 20 or 50 years ago.
But perhaps that is the point.
Downtowns have never really been static. Businesses open and close. Buildings change owners. Storefronts change signs. Generations replace one another behind the counters.
What makes a downtown survive those changes is not necessarily keeping everything exactly the same.
It is finding enough reasons for people to keep coming back.
In Mount Ayr, that next chapter is being written one storefront at a time.
