Fairfield's Old Buildings Disappearing

COURTNEY, GAMRATH, SMITH, SCHANTZ, MILLER, VERNON, LOCKE, PERRY, GILBERT, ZILLMAN, ANGSTEAD, GERLING, LEGGETT

Posted By: Joey Stark
Date: 6/4/2006 at 20:40:42

"Fairfield Ledger", Thurs., Apr. 21, 1966, Pages 1 and 7

Veterinary Office, Livery Stable--
MORE LOCAL LANDMARKS COME DOWN

More old landmarks are being razed in Fairfield's downtown area to make way for progress.

They include the old buildings at the corner of Court and Washington. The properties have been purchased by William COURTNEY and will be made into a car display lot.

The new owner, who owns and operates Courtney's Rambler and Dodge firm, said he plans to blacktop the lot to improve its appearance. The garage building is located west of those being razed.

The old buildings which are already down date back well past the turn of the century. One of them, the brick building on the corner, originally had been a part of the early First National Bank building located one block north.

These parts included large circular topped glass windows with metal pillars and Corinthian style capitals.

Livery Barn
In addition, part of those building razed served as a "hotel" for horses, or a livery barn, for many years.

Farmers and others coming to town for a period of time would leave their horses, wagons or buggies there while they shopped, traded, worked, attended school or took a journey on one of the many passenger trains which passed through the city each day.

A blacksmith shop was also located in a portion of the quarter-block area.

The brick building on the corner was later used by a number of veterinarians and it served as their office. Dr. C.L. GAMRATH was the first occupant as a veterinarian; others that followed included Dr. W. R. SMITH, Dr. J. V. H. SCHANTZ and Dr. Roy F. MILLER. All are deceased.

Oldest Building
The red brick building on the corner was the oldest. The two-story frame building which the garage building replaced in 1929 was originally a buggy store. Later it became a blacksmith shop run by William VERNON for many years.

Back in the late 1890s the quarter-block area was owned by David LOCKE. Nancy M. PERRY, before her marriage to William J. GILBERT, bought the lot facing on Court Street while she was a teacher in the old Franklin School building in 1898. Mr. and Mrs. GILBERT were the parents of Mrs. Leslie ZILLMAN who provided the information concerning the old buildings. The information was taken from family records.

When her parents moved to Fairfield from a farm south-east of Fairfield in 1904, her father purchased the south lot which had a home fronting on Court street. The brick building on the corner was made into an office.

The home on S. Court was occupied by the GILBERT family for many years. It was later moved to 50 E. Adams and rebuilt by the father and older brothers of William, Ray and and Harold ANGSTEAD (sic).

A sales pavillion was erected on the site of the old house and this structure was used for years for livestock sales. It has now been torn down.

Taxi Office
When automobiles replaced the horse drawn vehicles, this set of buildings was used as a taxi office, and for storage of cars. Eight, private garages were built on Court Street and later, in 1948 a dairy depot was built for the Walter GERLING Produce firm. This building remains.

The old buildings were at this site when there was no parking problem in Fairfield. Posts and chains circled Central Park and horses and wagons were tied there, sometimes in deep mud, in other times in dust.

The old buildings were there when the library was erected across the street, and the LEGGETT Hotel, one of the best known hotels in southeast Iowa, was only a block away.

But time marches on, the old must give way to the new.

*Transcribed for genealogy purposes; I have no relation to the person(s) mentioned.

Jefferson Documents maintained by Joey Stark.
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