Mount Ayr Record-News
Mount Ayr, Ringgold County, Iowa
Thursday, October 15, 2015, Page 10

By Mike Avitt.

I was asked a month ago about a two-story house on West Columbus Street in Mount Ayr that is undergoing some renovation. I believe that house was built by George Allyn about 1914. A block west of that house, George's son Earle built a two-story house on land what was previously known as "Allyn's Grove." The elder Allyn was one of Mount Ayr's wealthiest men.

Now I'll share with you something that is years overdue. About twelve years ago, Dan Lutrick told me about a menu he found in the wall of his house while doing some remodeling. I asked if I could make a copy of the menu for the Mount Ayr Depot Museum and was given permission.

The menu was from the Mount Ayr House (Hotel) and was dated Thanksgiving 1902. It listed the usual fare although the variety would be greater than one would expect to find today. On the back of the menu was handwritten, "To Miss Weltha Taylor."

Well, this was before I got a computer and I didn't pursue the identity of Weltha Taylor. But I did eventually find her married name and learned a little bit about her family. Weltha would marry James Franklin Mickael and they had three sons, one dying in infancy. One of her other two sons and I conducted a little business together, albeit I was not a willing participant. His name was Avery Mickael a long-time Mount Ayr city Policeman. And now you know what I know.

Avery David Mickael obituary

Photograph courtesy of Mount Ayr Record-News
Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, October of 2015