This week’s photo comes from the scrapbook of Zella (Campbell) Swartz and shows the opera house when it was located at 104 E. Monroe in Mount Ayr. Zella graduated in 1913 while the brick school was under construction, so her high school classes were held here and the upstairs rooms at 112 S. Taylor which…

Lucky Lanes was not Mount Ayr’s first attempt at a bowling alley. In January 1937, a “duck pin” alley opened in the Wilson building on the west side of the square. I believe the location to be 107 S. Fillmore as United Food Market had moved out of this building after a fire in February…

Shafer’s Service Station was located at 100 E. South St. in Mount Ayr. I took this photo in 1979, the last year of operation for this long-term, family business. The station got its start in 1927 when located at 401 W. Madison St., which was also Highway 3 at the time. Day Shafer, the owner,…

Two weeks ago I wrote about Ringgold County rural schoolhouses and where they were as of 1997. That article was based on a three-ring binder compiled by Bob and Kay Sickels and that binder is housed in the Mount Ayr Public Library’s basement. Not many people know it is there. Another historical effort with little…

I wrote about this picture in the January 23, 2025 Record-News but I stumbled upon some more information. This photo is rare for two reasons: it is a pre-1894 photo and the names are given for the people in this week’s picture. I know it was taken before February 1894 because that is when it…

Last week, I was visiting with my friend Bill Powell while he was dismantling the house at 605 South Fillmore St. I mentioned this house used to be a rural schoolhouse. Bill said he thought the house next door was a former rural school building. I did some research and it turned out we were…

I took this week’s photo on May 27, 2025 and, although I’ve written about this building or Lefty’s three times prior, I earnestly enjoy writing about anything connected to Randolph Beall. Thomas F. Armstong started a Mount Ayr newspaper called the Weekly News on April 4, 1892. It was located at 113 N. Taylor and…

I love it when I get a new (to me) photograph. Sandy Moon posted this picture on Facebook and I was all over it! I knew who it was, when it was, and where it was. Let’s start with the woman in front. She was Bernice Marie (Jackson) Moon and was born to Mr. and…

Homeowners often ask me about information and photos concerning their property. They want to know when their house was built and who first lived there. I want to know those things, too, so let’s look at what I know and what I don’t know. This week’s picture came with the information “Wilson’s boarding house.” The…

German was the last name of the family that owned the hotel. This hotel would briefly become a sanitarium, but allow me to build up the story. Last week I spent the day with Fred Stark in Washington, Iowa. Fred is a former teacher (1964-1973) in the Mount Ayr School District. In the 1960s, Fred…