Snapshot of History by Mike Avitt

BY MIKE AVITT I got a request from Richard Hogue of Colorado. He is writing a book about his genealogy and I want to share his Ringgold County connection. Richard’s father was Charles Hogue who graduated from Kellerton High School in 1927. Charles went to work near Schaller, Iowa after high school and spent the…

BY MIKE AVITT I took this week’s photo in April 2005 and it appears the old telephone office was vacant at this time. Let’s look at some of Mount Ayr’s telephone history. I find it remarkable that telephone service in Mount Ayr, which began in 1895, came so far ahead of things like electricity (1909)…

BY MIKE AVITT I was asked which buildings were original to Lesanville. There are just two on their original foundation and that is the barn and the farmhouse in front of it. Paul Ramsey organized the Ramsey Farm Foundation, with Phil Burmeister as president, and the barn at Lesanville was restored by the Iowa Barn…

BY MIKE AVITT I found something really interesting about the religious life in Knowlton, so I’ll just share everything I have. On July 20, 1922, lightning struck the Methodist Church and burned it to the ground. What the newspaper said about the history of the building came as a shock to me. This church building…

BY MIKE AVITT Thanks to David Cunning for this great photo of Bob Geigel and Mount Ayr High School wrestling coach, Doyle Thomas, in an exhibition match at the Mount Ayr High School gym on March 24, 1965. You may remember Bob Geigel from his days wrestling for promoter Gust Karras on Big 2 Wrestling…

BY MIKE AVITT I took this week’s photo on May 15, 2010. This was originally Monroe No. 8 and it was moved to the Daughton property north of Kellerton after being retired as a schoolhouse. Bob Sickels and a crew moved the building to the Ringgold County Fairgrounds in October 1992 where the restoration work…