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By Mike Avitt
I photographed this week’s picture from A. T. Andreas’ Illustrated Historical Atlas of the State of Iowa (1875) and this is the earliest town plat of Mount Ayr I’ve ever seen. There are a few changes since then and I’ll point them out.
North Street is called Columbus Street today and this was the northern most street on the map. The Allyn & Morris addition, north of Columbus Street, appeared in the 1880s. West Street and South Street remain the same and marked the western and southern city limits.
Garfield Street was called East Street in 1875 and was the eastern most street. Also, Douglas Street was called Doyle Street in 1875. I don’t know who Doyle was but (Stephen) Douglas was Abraham Lincoln’s opponent in the 1858 debates which resulted in Lincoln being appointed a U. S. Senator from Illinois. So, after 1875, someone decided Douglas deserved equal billing with Lincoln as both streets are one block apart running north/south.
The Mormon Trail was established in 1846, the year Iowa achieved statehood, and this trail passed through what would become Decatur, Clarke, and Union Counties. As a result, those counties were organized ahead of Ringgold County.
In 1854, a man named Edward Ames Temple platted the town of Afton in Union County. His wife, Jane Elizabeth Temple was with him and named the new town Afton after one her favorite poems, “Flow Gently, Sweet Afton,” by poet Robert Burns. Robert Burns was from Ayr, Scotland. Afton was immediately designated as the new county seat. Petersville had previously been the county seat.
In 1855, we find Mr. and Mrs. Edward Temple in Ringgold County with a man named John Sheller. All were from Chariton, Iowa where a land office was located. Deeds were recorded at land offices. Mr. Sheller is recorded as being the owner of the land Mount Ayr was platted on.
However, the Chariton Patriot newspaper of February 28, 1909 displays Temple’s obituary on the front page. In part it reads, “Mount Ayr was once owned by Mr. Temple, and he it was who bought the land from the government for $1.25 an acre and laid out the town. The last of the town lots he sold about six years ago.” I have read another account somewhere that said Temple owned one-fourth of the land Mount Ayr was laid out on.
History records that Mount Ayr was named by a committee of three men. But we know Mrs. Temple was in Mount Ayr in June 1855 because she signed a document as a witness. So, I believe Elizabeth Temple added the name “Ayr” to Mount Ayr. The “Mount” comes from Mount Ayr being the highest elevation between the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers in the bottom tier of Iowa counties.
I have also come across two documents that say Barton Dunning visited Ringgold County in 1854. He and his wife, Laura, were the first residents of Mount Ayr in 1855. Barton became Mount Ayr’s first postmaster on August 30, 1855. Laura gave birth to the first child born in Mount Ayr in December 1855. Mr. Dunning also started the first general store in 1855.
Ottumwa, Iowa and St. Joseph, Missouri both got railroads in 1859 and these were the nearest railroads to Mount Ayr in the 1850s.
Mount Ayr was incorporated in 1875 and a brick high school was soon built. Elihu Granville Martin was Mount Ayr’s first mayor. The Chicago, Burlington, & Quincy Railroad came to Mount Ayr in September 1879.
Hello Mike. I wonder if you have ever come across any old photos of my great grandfather John Roberts, or of his house moving equipment? He lived in Ringgold County from 1872 until 1916. He met a tragic death while transporting his house moving equipment, reported in the Mt Ayr Record-News on Dec 20, 1916. You can reach me at my email for further information.