I am a phillumenist, that is, I collect matchbooks and matchboxes. I began collecting casually in 1974 and aggressively in 2002. It was in 2002 I joined Rathkamp Matchcover Society and learned how to collect, store, and display matchcovers. In phillumeny, the hobby of collecting matchcovers, it is common to remove the staple and combs…

This week’s picture is a photo taken of a “linen postcard.” These types of postcards had a cloth-like finish and were most popular from the 1930s to the 1950s. “Linens” were colored with dyes and inks. Color photography existed, but was too costly for small-town postcards. The back of the postcard tells us the Clinton…

David Pugh took this week’s photo in the early 1990s. David took many pictures of Mount Ayr’s business district in the 1990s and he loaned them to me in 2005. I was to keep the duplicates and copy the single photos, which I did. He passed away in 2006. The hotel was closed in 1985…

This week’s photo comes courtesy of Nancy Thompson and shows the Mount Ayr Hotel in 1928. The hotel was started in 1865 or 1866 at 116 E. Madison St. by Francis (Frank) Ellis and his wife Susan. It lasted until 1985. I don’t have much info on the hotel until the early 1870s because my…

I have further information on the ghost town of Eugene which was located halfway between Shannon City and Tingley. I stumbled upon an old ledger which contains the secretary minutes of the Eugene United Presbyterian Church beginning in 1872, before the Eugene U. P. Church was built in 1874. But, let’s go back to 1858. A…

I received a book from Lora Stull of the Mount Ayr Record News I had never seen before. It was a compilation of biographies first published in the Ringgold Record newspapers of 1880-81. I knew of the biographies scattered through the Ringgold Record newspapers, but was unaware of the book put together by Lena Saville…

This week’s photo shows future congressman and senator Tom Harkin asking support from my mother, Sue Perry. The photo was taken in 1974 at 406 W. Madison St. in Mount Ayr. Fifty-two years ago, politicians went door-to-door soliciting support. This is my seventh article surrounding my memories of Mount Ayr in the early 1970s. My…

This is the fifth installment of my memories of Mount Ayr from 1970 to 1973. Things were a little different back then. I think it was the winter of 1972 Tom Terry and his friends built a very large snow bunny on the north side of the courthouse. I’d say it was eight to 10…

I am recalling my memories of Mount Ayr from 1970 to 1973 and I am enjoying reliving my hometown in the “good ol’ days.” Corporal punishment was alive and well in Mount Ayr’s junior high school, 1970-71. My eighth grade homeroom teacher was Ezra Rice and he had a wooden solution to my discipline problems. Rice…

I will continue my series of how I viewed Mount Ayr from 1970 to 1973 and the experiences I had. Mount Ayr’s first teen center was in the basement of the United Presbyterian Church and opened in 1970. I remember my step-sister Lesa Perry painted the sign, “The Cellar,” that was placed at the entrance of…