BY MIKE AVITT We continue around the square with a look at 104-110 W. Madison. In this week’s picture, you can see 104-108 W. Madison all have the same brick facade. These three storefronts were built by Sellards and Merrill in 1893. I believe Sellards owned the two buildings on the west and Merrill owned…
Read MoreThanks to Phil Freeland for this week’s photo. I won’t have the space to go into detail about the offices upstairs so I’ll just say many of Mount Ayr’s more well-known lawyers, dentists, and photographers had offices on the second floor at 100-102 W. Madison. This building was constructed by William Timby in 1890 after…
Read MoreWe continue our tour of the Mount Ayr square with a look at 108 S. Taylor, the Lucky Lanes building. William Timby erected a two-story brick building here in 1891. John Wall moved his grocery store into the north half of the double storefront and B. C. Warren opened a drug store in the south…
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We continue going around the square beginning with the Mount Ayr Christian Church. The current church building, at 201 W. Monroe, was built in 1981-82 and dedicated March 21, 1982. The previous church here was built in 1913-14 and burned in February 1980 while being remodeled. To my knowledge, the current building is mostly unchanged…
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This week’s photo was taken about 1895 and shows A. A. Huggins’ new building he operated as a farm implement business. Built in 1891, an elevator allowed Huggins to place farm equipment upstairs, as well. In this photo, John Wall & Son have their grocery store in the northern one-third of the building. H. U.…
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This week’s photo shows the facade of the Abstract & Title Co.at 115 S. Fillmore office being remodeled. Dr. T. I. Moffet erected this building in 1946. Now back to 111 S. Fillmore, the current location of Ringgold Insurance Services. The Wilson Estate built this double storefront building in 1931 and the Mount Ayr Post…
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This house was built for Mr. and Mrs. James R. Fisher in 1916. The Fisher’s son, Orr Fisher, painted the famous “Corn Parade” mural in the garage of this home. Orr also painted murals and scenes on the interior walls and floors of the house. After Orr’s parents passed away, the house was sold to…
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I keep forgetting to tell you Tony Mercer has added more digitized newspapers to the website ringgoldcounty.advantage-preservation.com. Many different newspapers covering several decades. Recently, the Ringgold County Board of Supervisors hosted an informational meeting to encourage the formation of a Ringgold County Historical Preservation Commission. This issue comes up about every fifteen years. I remember…
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BY MIKE AVITT A professional photographer, Dave Austin, recently spent some time in Ringgold County taking pictures of the mural at the Mount Ayr Post Office, Eighme School, and barns. He posted many of his pictures on Facebook and it generated much interest. I get asked about Eighme School often so I’ll share all I…
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BY MIKE AVITT Phil Freeland emailed me and wondered if his maternal grandfather, Dr. J. W. Hill, was ever the only physician in Mt. Ayr. No, but it did get a little thin for a while. Dr. Hill came to Mt. Ayr in 1923 after practicing medicine in Ellston the four previous years. At this…
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