Snapshot of History by Mike Avitt

By Mike Avitt Delphos was established in 1880 with the coming of the Chicago, Burlington, & Quincy Railroad. Delphos never had a newspaper and was the only incorporated town in Ringgold County to never have a bank. Delphos started small and stayed small. And, yet, it has a big history. The first church here was…

Did you ever lie awake at night wondering how many “chain” restaurants Mount Ayr has had? Yeah, me too. Today, we’ll look at number 3 in the order….Breadeaux Pisa. I took this week’s photo in November of 2006, the month Breadeaux moved from its original building. I wanted to get the sign in the photo,…

I don’t have the complete history of this restaurant but I have most. This week’s picture was taken by me on March 26, 2013. Keith Rogers built the Dog’N’Suds drive-in at 904 E. South Street in Mount Ayr in 1965. Keith also built the Fina Station and car wash to the east in the same…

By Mike Avitt Mount Ayr’s first brick school building was erected in 1875 at a cost of $6,950 and was located where the other high school buildings followed. The contractor hired for this historic job was Lyman Forgrave of Leon, who was well-known as the builder of the Decatur County Courthouse in Leon. The school…

By Mike Avitt This week’s picture features the Mount Ayr High School that was built in 1895. It only lasted seventeen years and I am often asked why a building this beautiful was so seemingly short-lived. This school building replaced the one built in 1875 and sat at the same location as future high school…

By Mike Avitt I took this week’s photo on January 25, 2011, showing the north side of the 100 block of East Adams Street in Mount Ayr. This week we’ll look at some of the history of 102 and 104 E. Adams. The building at 102 E. Adams has a door on the left and…

I recently posted this picture on Facebook and got quite a few replies. I’ll give you a brief history of the Maloy High School. Maloy’s Centennial Book says a school was built in Maloy in 1895. I didn’t find any information concerning that, but in 1917, the same year Delphos built a new schoolhouse, the…

By Mike Avitt The information with this photo says the picture was taken in 1899. Mr. Reger would live only two more years. William Alfred Reger was born February 18, 1852 in West Virginia. He came to Mount Ayr in 1870 and married Mary Ellis, daughter of Francis Ellis, the man who started the Mount…

I spoke about Hy-Vee’s early history at the Mount Ayr Public Library during Ayr Days celebration and the Lamoni Chronicle newspapers are now digitized and online so I have some additional information to share. Hy-Vee’s co-founders, Charles Hyde and David Vredenburg, were both raised in northern Harrison County, Iowa around communities such as Woodbine, Magnolia,…