Snapshots of History
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By Mike Avitt
House under construction in Mount Ayr about 1912.
I knew where this house was as soon as I got the photo in my hands. I used to work on houses and I have driven all over Mount Ayr looking at the style, construction makeup, and age of houses for many, many years. The house in this week’s article is that of Tom and Sharon Carr at 603 West Madison in Mount Ayr. Now, I’ll tell you how I came to possess this picture.
About a year and a half ago I got a phone call from Dr. Grover Hahn. He explained he had some items to donate to the Mount Ayr Depot Museum. He showed up with an SUV full of mostly items his grandmother, Lillie Rusk, had saved. My favorite piece was a 1939 Delphos calendar shadowbox, which contained a pair of eyeglasses, as well as the calendar. It was in excellent condition. We also got an accordion which had been modified for a nine-fingered player. Long story.
Now, because Dr. Hahn was Clyde Rusk’s grandson, I asked about photos relating to Clyde’s construction projects. And, I received this week’s photo last week along with three other photos, one of which I’ll be running next week.
The back of the photo indicates the two men of the platform are Clyde Rusk and his brother Leonard. One of the men on the ground is Clyde’s uncle, J. H. Seevers. More on him next week.
The new house was supposedly that of Henry Hetzel, but may have been that of his father Conrad Hetzel.
The house today looks very close to the original construction with the exception of the double-window, ground floor furthest to the left, has been reduced to a single window. I don’t know the year of the photo but I’d say it is 1916 or earlier.
So, who was Clyde Rusk?
He was a very important figure in Mount Ayr history until the late 1910s. He constructed the houses at 102 Shellway Drive, for Frank Sheldon, and 906 W. Columbus, for Earle Allyn, in 1913.
In 1914, he converted the building at 101 W. Monroe into the Princess Theatre and built the house Dan and Judy Cunning lived in. The house was built for Iowa State Bank President Bert Teale. Clyde built many other houses and business buildings.
In 1872, Hosea Rusk married Mary Emaline Seevers in Indiana. Mary was a sister to John Harvey Seevers. Hosea and Mary had nine children with Clyde being the fifth-born in 1880. Walter seems to have been the oldest brother to Clyde and Walter was in California when I researched him. Clyde had two brothers who stayed in Mt. Ayr and had children. Leonard, who was a career carpenter in Mount Ayr, married Leona Canney in 1915 and was the father of Rex and Elizabeth Rusk. Earl Rusk, another brother of Clyde, married twice and was the father of Bill Rusk of Mount Ayr and Patricia Scott Braby who many of us remember. There may have been other siblings.
One of Clyde’s sisters was Maud Willey, who was the mother of Gerold Willey of Mount Ayr.
Clyde died in 1921, aged 40. He became sickly in the late teens and never recovered. He married Lillie Omer on August 1, 1906. Her mother’s maiden name was Ruziska from Cainsville, Missouri. Cainsville had a large Bohemian population. Clyde and Lillie had three children, one of them being Dr. Grover Hahn’s mother, Mary Louise. Lillie did not remarry and worked as a teacher and at other vocations.
Grover told me he spent summers in the 1960s at his grandmother’s house in Mount Ayr. Lillie lived in the first or second house south of the United Methodist Church.
Next week I will cover Clyde Rusk’s uncle, John Harvey Seevers and his businesses. One of the buildings erected for Seevers in 1890 is still standing and we will explore that among other things. Thanks to Dr. Grover Hahn for this week’s picture.
