The Humeston & Shenandoah Railroad, a branch of the Keokuk & Western Railway, came through Tingley in the second half of 1882. Let’s see what the town did in preparation for the coming of the iron horse. There is an especially helpful article in the May 18, 1882 Ringgold Record newspaper. The railroad surveyors had…

Richard Pence asked about articles I’ve written on Mount Ayr restaurants in the 1960s. There have been many, but I don’t mind adding one more. Mr. Pence once worked at Shamrock Cafe, so let’s start there. George Rogers (father) and Keith Rogers (son) opened Rogers Truck Stop in 1953 on the site now occupied by…

This view of Knowlton is looking west about 1912. The road seen in the photo is called J-23 today. The bridge in the foreground was built in 1888 by Greenman & Son. It had a 70-foot span. I have written many articles about Knowlton and it is my hope that someday the information from these…

I took this week’s photo in September 2004. It shows the ice house that sat behind the old Watterson Store. It was probably Neil Johnston who directed my attention to an outbuilding that I would most likely overlook. I took a photo of the front of the store the same day. Everything in both those…

Last week I attended funeral services for Evelyn Groom of Grant City, Mo. After the graveside service at Kirk Cemetery northeast of Allendale, Mo., Dave Hardy brought to my attention some unusual grave markers to the north of us. Those graves were of Jo Ross, Jim Ross, Hubert “Whitney” Wiseman, Hazel Davis and Obra Davis.…

This is another picture postcard from the Linda Swanson collection. It shows the north side of the Mount Ayr square before 1915. I’ve written about the north side many times so I’ll try to give the readers some fresh information this week. The Timby building (100-102 W. Madison) was built in 1890 and bears the…

This week’s photo comes courtesy of Nancy Thompson and shows the house at 206 S. Lincoln St. in Mount Ayr, but I’m not certain of the year. Writing at the base of the picture says, “Frelands (Freelands) 1929-1932.” Montgomery Edward “Ned” Freeland moved to 501 W. Madison in 1924. M. E. had a twin brother,…

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…

This week’s picture comes courtesy of the Linda Swanson collection and shows the west side of the Mount Ayr square about 1914. I have a similar photo from this angle and from about the same time frame, but that picture doesn’t have the quality this one does. I know this photo is from September 1913…

I made a mistake in the last article. In the last paragraph I used the surname “Mullin” which was incorrect as it should have been “Mull.” My further research also uncovered multiple closeout sales at the Ringgold City store. The first one was in August 1932 with Mrs. J. M. Mull & Son as proprietors.…