Snapshots of History by Mike Avitt

By Editor | March 25, 2026 |

This week’s picture was scanned from the book, “The Ghost Town of Caledonia,” written by Holland Foster and published in 1978. Mr. Foster explains that the photos used in the book were mostly taken by Foster’s father, Homer Foster, a businessman in Caledonia for many years.
This is the second photo I’ve seen of the store at Caledonia. A later picture shows added front windows, but also a canopy to keep out the sun while allowing more light to enter. In the photo, Holland Foster is the child on the right, his sister Beatrice is in the middle, and the child on the left is unknown. The photo is believed to have been taken around 1910.
This is the same store visited by Bonnie and Clyde on July 20, 1933. I’ve written about that many times so let’s look at some other interesting stories.
In 1894, Frank Freeland opened a store at Caledonia. Frank had twin brothers: Ned and Nat Freeland. Ned was Montgomery Edward Freeland, the most successful clothing retailer of his day in Mount Ayr. Nat was a retailer in Blockton. Nat’s son Ansel followed his father in the retail business.
The May 17, 1895 Twice-A-Week News newspaper has an extremely interesting county column and I tip my hat to the correspondent for the details — as details are often lacking in the old county columns.
Holland Foster’s father, Homer, performed a surgical operation on a doctor. Homer cut a tumor out of Dr. Jessup’s wrist with a group of onlookers present. Dr. Jessup later became more well-known as a doctor at Diagonal.
The Free Methodist congregation were holding services in a tent at Caledonia. Elder Wilson and Rev. McKay were in charge. The Free Methodist would continue to gather in this area until the 1940s when services began to be held in Mount Ayr.
The Baptist were meeting in their church, the Methodist were meeting in the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Latter Day Saints were meeting in the schoolhouse. Wow!
A hard frost, approximately May 11, did damage to the gardens, crops and orchards in the area.
I found an interesting event in 1929. Old Fiddlers’ Contests were once very popular. On Christmas Eve 1929 a fiddlers’ contest was held at the Caledonia store owned by Mr. and Mrs. Charley Burchett. Only seven players participated in the event but I got the winners. Homer Grubb was first, Mrs. Bassett was second and Sam German third. There were many similar events throughout the county at this time and the organizer seems to have been John Yaryan of Diagonal.
I tried to find when the store closed and I failed. I did find an account in the History Highlights column that said the last two owners were Lester Strait and Orval Van Winkle.
On June 7, 1969, Orval Van Winkle had a closing out sale at Caledonia. Hutchinson & Hutchinson were the auctioneers. Listed for sale were: tools, equipment, furniture, appliances and a 1949 Ford Tractor.
The Methodist Church at Caledonia lasted until the early 1970s. I remember attending church there with a large group and I assume that was the final service there. There are no original buildings at Caledonia and haven’t been since 2007. Dr. Reynolds old doctor’s office was the last one.
I’m always looking for historic photos and information. You can call me at 641-344-0482 or drop items off at the Mount Ayr Record-News. Thanks.