BY MIKE AVITT Farmers State Savings Bank was located at 105 S. Fillmore and we can see the house at 205 W. Madison in the background. The drive-up teller service of U. S. Bank occupies 105 S. Fillmore today. So, last week I told you the Laughlin and Hass clans started a bank in the…

This is an old, sharp, and rare photo of the William Henry Rhoades building in Beaconsfield. I say rare because the smaller the town, the harder it is to find pictures. Especially this clear. This picture postcard was produced by J. M. Rinard of Clearfield. “Store in Beaconsfield,” is hand-written on the back, but I…

A nice and old group photo made better because the names are on the back. Mount Ayr High School’s baseball team of 1908 has some interesting young men so let’s see who they are. Back row, left to right: Paul Spurrier (Captain), Clint Allyn, Stanton Tennant (Manager), Grant Hayes, Arlo Moore, and Charlie Horne. Front…

  This week’s picture should look familiar to the readers. It appears on page 48 of the Mount Ayr Centennial Book and I ran this photo in the September 22, 2011 Record-News. This is a higher quality original photo. Before roads were paved, farmers were paid to drag the “farm to market” roads in their…

Taylor (Still) Greene recently purchased this building and asked me about its history. Let’s get started. This building was erected in 1938 by Dr. J. W. Hill. Dr. Hill first came to Ringgold County in 1915 when he opened an office in Ellston. In 1923, Dr. and Mrs. Hill came to Mount Ayr to establish…

Barb (Kennedy) Supinger asked me if I had information on the armed robbery that took place at Casey’s General Store on January 18, 1977. I remembered reading about it a couple of years ago as I often read old newspapers and thought I would revisit that fateful evening. Oh, yes, Barb was the cashier that…

I love it when I get a new picture and this 107 year old photo is new to me. It shows the last service held at the original Christian Church on August 3, 1913 by the Christian congregation. This church was located at 204 E. Madison. The Christians (Church of Christ) had let the contract…

I’m back from Costa Rica where I joined the MOVE (Men Of Vision Evangelize) Ministry team to build an Open Bible Church at Nazareth, Costa Rica. I hope to write about this effort next week. The High Point M. E. Church was located five miles east of Wishard Chapel or one mile west of Blackmore…

What we see is local citizens hamming it up for the photographer. This photo is one of about 15 pictures that were salvaged from glass negatives discovered when the Mount Ayr Record-News moved from 119 N. Taylor to 122 W. Madison in 1988. Most of the other photos were self-explanatory but I couldn’t place this…