By Mike Avitt I photographed this week’s picture from A. T. Andreas’ Illustrated Historical Atlas of the State of Iowa (1875) and this is the earliest town plat of Mount Ayr I’ve ever seen. There are a few changes since then and I’ll point them out. North Street is called Columbus Street today and this…

By Mike Avitt I was looking at the history of Gentry, Missouri and I was reminded of the unusual path (literally and figuratively) the Chicago, Burlington, & Quincy RR took in reaching St. Joseph, Mo. from Chariton, Iowa. Let’s see if I can get the entire history in one article. The Burlington & Missouri River…

By Mike Avitt Welcome to “Snapshots of History” number 700. In my first “Snapshots” article from December 23, 2010, I wrote I didn’t know how long this column would run. Now, almost fifteen years later, I still don’t know. My research methods have changed over the years as I use mostly digitized newspapers, now. Previously,…

By Mike Avitt I’ve written about the past almost 700 times. What if I wrote about the future? It’s been done before. Jack Terry wrote in the Mount Ayr Centennial Book (1975) that we need to face the future “with courage and optimism” as our forebears did. And that Mount Ayr’s future depends “on what…

Last week I honored the Mount Ayr High School class of 1975 as they get together for their 50-year reunion. There are many overeaters in that class, so I know the event will be well catered. The class of 1965 graduated 60 years ago and I found some information on what Mount Ayr was like…

By Mike Avitt The Mount Ayr High School class of 1975 will get together for our 50-year reunion in about three weeks, so I will dedicate this article to those overfed, geriatric grads. We will also take a look at some of the events and way of life of 50 years ago. Many members of…

By Mike Avitt It has been quite some time since I wrote about our friend Harry Bedwell. This week’s picture was scanned from page 65 of the book, “Harry Bedwell – The Last of the Great Railroad Storytellers,” by Frank P. Donovan, Jr. The house is described as being two blocks north of the depot.…

By Mike Avitt Let’s revisit an old mystery that has since been forgotten by most people. During the winter of 1997-98, the Mount Ayr Depot Preservation Corp. members found a gravestone while landscaping the depot grounds. The stone indicates the name of the deceased as Washington Alley. In a bit of irony, the railroad came…

By Mike Avitt Last week I wrote about Charles Thorla who had a sixty-foot tapeworm removed from his abdomen and how alarming it was to see such news in the newspaper. This week we’ll look at some other alarming or bizarre accounts in the newspapers. Bounties paid on destructive animals are nothing new, but did…

The gravestone of Washington Alley in Mt. Ayr. Let’s revisit an old mystery that has since been forgotten by most people. During the winter of 1997-98, the Mount Ayr Depot Preservation Corp. members found a gravestone while landscaping the depot grounds. The stone indicates the name of the deceased as Washington Alley. In a bit…