During 1915 and 1916 Mount Ayr's streets were finally paved. By the time the contractors were through, Mount Ayr had spent $113,622 and had three miles of paving. No further street improvement was undertaken until 1928 and 1929 when several blocks were graveled.

With the abandonment of the Ringgold County Fair at Mount Ayr, the Tingley Colt Show developed into an important fair. In 1910 the Tingley fair featured among other attractions a children's day, a wild west show, and a baseball tournament. The farmers were particularly attracted to the the livestock and poultry shows and the livestock parades. In the evening the admission to the fairgrounds was free, and the young swains and sweethearts patronized the roller skating rink, the merry-go-round, and the ferris wheel on the midway. Tingley welcomed crowds for three days.

Dairying had come into prominence in the county by 1910, and this interest led to the cooperative creamery at Mount Ayr in the spring of 1914. The creamery paid 24 cents a pound for butter fat, two cents over the accepted price, and did a good business. This company furnished the local stores and townspeople with butter, milk, and ice cream.

During these years, interest in a public library for Mount Ayr grew and when the public library was dedicated on New Year's Day, 1917, it was the only one in the county, the Ellston library having passed out of existence. The people had voted to assess a maintenance tax to furnish $1,000 a year, and the Carnegie Foundation added $8,000 to the $2,323 provided by the people in the community. The attractive library had six rooms and a basement and by 1936 had acquired 4,000 volumes for the use of its 1,000 card holders. Pupils of Mount Ayr schools made good use of it from very first.

Less than six months after the dedication of the library, the United States was at war with Germany and, by June 5, 1917, 1,054 men in the county were registerd for service. By the time Ringgold County's quota for the draft had been set, 18 had enlisted for service. The local boards in the county were busy drawing 248 names, double the number of the county's quota, to provide substitutes for the men who did not pass the examination.

During the tense days of 1918, life in the county proceeded almost at its normal pace. The farmers work through long hours each day, feeling they were doing a Worthwhile service for their country, On May 4, 1918, the Ringgold County Farm Bureau was organize and began its work of coordinating the efforts of the farmers. As the years passed this organization superseded the Granges and and the Farmers' Institutes in the county. Farm Bureau work got off to an auspicious start under W. B. BUCK, the county agent.

The World War doubtless turned the thoughts of the county toward other wars. Most of the county celebrated July 4, 1918, at Mount Ayr where a monument to Civil War soldiers was dedicated and unveiled at the northeast corner of the courthouse square. J. W. [John W.] WILKERSON, well known to Ringgold County people whom he had served as county school superintendent for a number of years after his long rule as principal of schools at Mount Ayr, gave the dedicatiory address. Members of the local Ellis C. MILLER G.A.R. post assisted in the ceremonies. Esta POOR and Erma HOLDEN pulled the cord that unveiled the monument -- a soldier of the Civil War, at parade rest. The figure topped a white Victoria granite monument some 25 feet high.

Ringgold County joined the nationwide celebration on November 11, 1918, when Americans went wild with joy because the war had ended. Like magic, the town was decorated in a few short hours as though for a Fourth of July celebration. Bells ran, whistles blew, guns sounded, and people poured into Mount Ayr to celebrate. At two-thirty in the afternoon, the Mount Ayr concert band headed a procession of school children, Red Cross workers, Civil War veterans, and townspeople who paraded through the streets to the courthouse square. There more than 2,000 had assembled to listen with solemn relief to the reading of President Woodrow WILSON'S message. Following this, Mr. F. F. [Francis "Frank"] FULLER delivered an address eulogizing the "boys over there" and rejoicing that peace had come. Huge bonfires were then lighted in the streets, and again the whistles blew and bells rang out against the strong gay overtone of the shouting crowds. The Kaiser was burned in effigy.

In 1919 Mount Ayr enjoyed a comfortable prosperity, but showed no great outward evidence of it. When the county home was condemned in this year, the people voted against building a new one and nothing was done until 1921. Then, in 1922, the indigent of the county were moved into an attractive two-story, fireproof, modern home which had been built at a cost of $27,200.

Trends in the 1920's were indicated at Mount Ayr by the issuing of the first permit for a gasoline filling station, the raising of the firemen's fee to a dollar a fire in 1921, the establishing of a tourist park in 1922, the erection of a Golf and Country Club, the condemning of the county courthouse in 1926, and the purchase of a $5,800 fire engine in 1928 to replace the smaller one bought eight years previously.

In 1924 the PRENTIS Hatchery was opened in Mount Ayr with a capacity of 2,400 eggs and by 1936 this had been increased to 100,000. The PRENTIS plant was the only State-inspected hatchery in the county. The hatchery then used electric equipment to incubate as well as to hatch. A good part of its business was "custom" hatching for farmers and poultry raisers. Most of its chicks were sold locally.

During the hot summer of 1926 the foundation for the fourth courthouse was built. On November 11 the cornerstone was laid. The new three-story building and equipment cost $132,533. Since jail facilities had been included in the building, the old county jail was sold for a dollar to the Ringgold American Legion Post 172 as a home for the post, the property to be used for a memorial to World War soldiers.

The depression of the early 1930's and the drought of the middle thirties hit the farmers hard, and many of them could scarcely get enough fodder and feed for their livestock. In 1936 thre was another dry season. During March heavy dust storms came and April was the drirest month on record. In June the grasshoppers were getting bad. Rain ended the 30-day drought July 20, but by this time grasshoppers were eating the leaves from the fruit trees. During August softwood trees all over the county were dying, and the corn crop was almost entirely lost. Dead fish rotted in the dry creeks and ponds. In September rain came again and autumn flowers and the leafless fruit trees bloomed. On Christmas Day, dandelions blossomed in the yards.

In spite of this train of disasters, people all over the county looked ahead to brighter days. In 1933 the JACOBS Fur House, which had been established in Mount Ayr in 1921, expanded its business and rebuilt its store. After 1932 the business kept ten of 12 men and one bookkeeper busy. The JACOBS family started in 1906, trapping furs in Lotts Creek Township, and had expanded operations until their total business reached $150,000. In that year the old limestone quarry near Waterson also expanded its operations 1936 this quarry was worked under the Soil Conservation Service of the Works Projects Administration. A crew of 50 men was added to the regular 50 employees so that two shifts could be maintained.

One of the pioneers, John C. ABARR, could have told the people that the county had survived other periods of hard times, and would again know good days. ABARR was the last Civil War veteran in the county. He died June 19, 1936, at Redding. The people of Redding had gathered at his home in the previous September to help him celebrate his ninetieth birthday. After his death neighbors recalled events of his life. They remembered his pleasure at receiving a gold bust of Abraham LINCOLN, presented to him during a political rally at Redding in 1932 because he was the only living veteran who had voted for LINCOLN. ABARR came to the county with his parents when he was a small boy, enlisted in the Civil War at Savannah, Missouri, when he was 18, and was taken prisoner on October 14, 1864, and sent to Jefferson City, Missouri, where he was eventually released. Upon his return to the county he operated a sawmill, then he was postmaster at Redding for 11 years. Then, at the age of 84, he returned to work at the sawmill.

In 1936 Ringgold was the only county in the State without cement highways. Many of the roads and bridges were improved, however, through WPA aid. A total of $51,000 was spent, $22,950 of it from federal funds. The next year the residents of the county voted a $425,000 bond issue for a pavement project on State Highway No. 3, corssing the county from east to west through Mount Ayr and Kellerton. This gave the county its first cement highway. After that time there was additional road improvement and motorists no longer needed to detour to avoid Ringgold's bad roads.

During 1936 an addition was made to the high school at Mount Ayr to provide an auditorium and gymnasium for the 500 and more pupils. The old portion of the buildings was remodeled to conform in style to the addition. In this year also, Everett EURITT leased the former fairgrounds at the northeastern corner of the town and remodeled old Floral Hall into a sales pavilion where he held sales every Wednesday. He moved from his farm in Riley Township to assume management of the pavilion, which at once became popular.

August 1936 saw the Ringgold County 4-H Club making a tour to visit 4-H Club members all over the county. The caravan, which filled 20 cars, visited seven farms and made a stop at the tourist park at Kellerton where the Kellerton 4-H girls greated them with 17 gallons of leomonade.

Dog Day at Mount Ayr, one of the annual events heartily welcomed by boys and girls throughout the county, was initiated in 1937. Every child in the county who wished could enter his pet in the parade. The Mount Ayr marching high school band led the first parade from the Legion Hall to the courthouse and around the courthouse square to the band stand. Two hundred fifty dogs of every breed, color, size, and shape paraded before the judges, who awarded awarded prized for the best decorated dog, the biggest dog, the smallest dog, and the homeliest dog. In the "best decorated" class, we may assume the dog himself had precious little to do with the outcome.

The Diagonal basketball team, which in 1938 went to the State Basketball Tournament at Des Moines for the fifth consecutive time, won the State championship, In the following year this team was runner-up. In the same year the crack Mount Ayr band appeared at the Iowa State Fair. Under the direction of Forest L. STEWART, this band appeared annually at the State Fair for a number of years. From 1926 to 1936 the band was heard in a total of 233 concerts.

The first Old Timers' reunion was held in 1938 in conjunction with the State-wide centennial celebration. Antiques from all parts of the county were collected and displayed in store windows. The following year the Ringgold County Historical Society was organized at the Old Timers' reunion.

The decade of 1940 ushered in the completeion of the $50,500 post office at Mount Ayr. The total cost of the building including the lot and furnishing was $75,000. Three old frame buildings, erected in 1875, were torn down to make room for it. The post office was dedicated on August 22, 1940, with W. F. McFARLAND, superintendent of Mount Ayr schools, master of ceremonies.

In the fall of that year the people of the county were concerned when the Selective Service draft was completed and 21 young men in the county held the first numbers drawn. One thousand thirty-eight residents of the county were eligible for the draft in October 1940. Fifty-two others who maintained their residence in the county were added to this list by the county draft board -- R. R. BUCK, James MAHAN, and H. H. EMLEY.

In June of 1941 torrential rains sent the Platte River out of its banks in a flood that did great damage to crops, livestock, and homes. Mrs. Charles BAILEY was drowned when the wagon in which she was riding with her family overturned at the edge of a high steel bridge on which they had been marroned for many hours. As the horses left the bridge in an attempt to taverse the 200 or more feet of swirling flood water that lay between them and higher ground, one of them slipped and pulled the other with it into a deep ditch beside the road. This upset the wagon and threw the seven occupants into the water. All but Mrs. BAILEY were carried two to three miles down the stream by the swift current, and were rescued by some of the several hundred persons who had gathered when they heard of the family's plight. A bridge five miles south of Diagonal was washed out, and State Highway 25, which follows the county line between Ringgold and Taylor Counties for some distance, was under water near Blockton. All of the farms in this vicinity were flooded.

When the young men chosen in the selective service draft of 1940 left their homes for a year's training in the spring of 1941, many of them sincerely believed, and hoped, that they would remain in uniform until the end of the war. People remembered 1917, when the youth of another generation had been drafted for a similar emergency. Some recalled the years still farther back when their fathers had enlisted for the duration of the Civil war at a time when the county's county history had scarcely begun. In the span of their own lives they could see the development of their county -- prairie schooners following a dim trail, plows turning the sod of a trackless prairie, farmhouses along lonely trails that led to the small villages, railroads superceding stagecoaches, automobiles preceding graveled roads that tied the villages closer together -- then airplanes soaring over the conquered prairie, once empty of man's handiwork, now orderly with fenced fields and sturdy farmhouses.

Back to Ringgold County History, 1942 Index

Ringgold County Iowa History The Iowa Writers' Program Of the Work Projects Administration.
Pp. 58-63. 1942.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, January of 2011