Page 31

Stofflet's Dentistry

    When the dentist office was being torn down in1974, many people expressed an interest in the building: “How old was it? Who built it? Did Dr Stofflet always own it?” So to start from the beginning as I remember it: My grandfather, John Horstmann was the local harness maker. He had his shop at what is now 314 McKinley Avenue which is part of the Leroy Hansen home. When my father married my mother in 1900, her mother bought the home and property west across the road from the harness shop as a wedding present for my mother. Later the dentist office was built to the north of this home and father's harness shop to the south. The house was old before we lived there. It was one of the first houses built and served as an office and home for an early doctor in town, Dr Joerger. My father liked it because it was just across the street from their harness shop. There was a barn to the northwest which had a place for storing grain on the north side and oats on the west side. There were two stalls for horses. Dr Joerger had a beautiful team of horses. Attached to the barn on the east side was a buggy shed. Next to the buggy shed was a coal bin. The coal had to be carried from the bin to the house every morning but this is what everyone had to do. There was a space east of the coal bin, wide enough for a path and east of this path was my mother's garden. The garden was along the fence. In 1903, everything from south of our house to the corner on what is now Main Street burned down. It was thought for awhile that our house was going too. After the fire my father bought this burned out property for speculation. Shortly after the fire he decided to build a harness shop, south of the house. This was later used as the Lowden News office.

     Lowden's dentists up to this time had occupied an office upstairs in the building now used by the Sun-News at 518 Main Street, then known as the Nieting building. My father had several friends, cronies, he called them, who use to meet with him in the back room of the shop in the evening. In 1913, one of these was Dr. Brady, the dentist. At that time, he complained that his office was so hot and uncomfortable, he wished he had a better, more roomy place for his patients. Some time elapsed before any decision was made but once they decided to use mother's garden as a building site, dad was busy with blueprints. He usually did all his business, writing and planning, in the harness shop but one evening in the early spring of 1914, we were told we couldn't have the kitchen table for our studying, as father needed it to study his blueprints. Plans seemed to proceed satisfactorily except that water may drop off the roof on people who might be passing on the sidewalk. So one day at the dinner table, Dad said, “I wish we could figure out the roof, then we could start building.”

     I said, “Why couldn't you slant it from the front to the back and it would drip into the back yard.”

     Dad said, “You and your questions, but that is it.” Emil Mahlstedt and his crew of 4 or 5 men, who were expert carpenters came and started the building. After they had put up the frame and the outside sheathing, the carpenters were called away because they were so efficient and in great demand. Dad decided to do the lathing himself. He got Julius Behrens, my cousin, to help him. Mr Deke, who was a good friend of both Dad & Dr Brady, also helped. Mr Deke, was town marshal and also ran the grist mill. As soon as summer vacation came, Dad put me in charge of the harness shop. The price was . . .

Page 32

. . . marked on articles that had been repaired. If there was something I couldn't handle I had to call Dad.

     Finally the lathing was done, plasterers were hired to do the plastering, Dr. Brady moved in, and we went back to school. Three men from Clinton came and applied the pebble-dash. The one who did the actual pebble dashing had a right arm that was much larger than his left. They seemed to be working while we were in school, so I really don't know how long it took them but it didn't seem long. Most pebble-dash doesn't last long but this had an oil base and it was tight. It was a very pleasant office. The waiting room was along the window. He had a small room off from this in which there was a cot. This was for patients who became ill or who had to be given anesthetic. Occasionally he slept there if he had a patient late in the evening or had to go out of town and came home late. He did have a room at Mrs Roach's for awhile but later moved from there.

     The agreement was that Dr. Brady was to pay rent for the dentist building for five years. In the meantime Brady Piatt became sheriff of Cedar County. His sister, Ruth taught third and fourth grade in our school and Dr. Brady became acquainted with the family and married Ruby Piatt. She didn't like it here and wanted to start a hat shop in Clinton. As soon as the five years were up, he sold out to Dr Stofflet. Shortly after this I left to go to Davenport and I lost track of events in Lowden. In 1936, on my visit to Lowden, the dentist office was being remodeled so Dr. Stofflet could live upstairs above the office.

     The area consisting of the dentist home and office, our house, and Dad's harness shop is now occupied by the north part of the new American Trust and Savings Bank, and parking lot.

              Mrs Ella (Horstmann) James

Picture of Sketch of American Trust and Savings Bank
    See above a sketch of the present American Trust and Savings Bank, on McKinley Avenue. The new and enlarged banking and parking facilities were completed in early 1976.