By Mike AvittThis photo has been at the Mount Ayr Depot Museum for years and I'm finally getting around to writing about it. It's a
small out-of-focus shot, but there are two things of interest in this week's photo.
The picture's subject matter is the black auto in the center of the
frame. This is almost certainly Asa Rain's 1910 Hupmoblie car. It was a locally famous automobile and Asa had it for about 40 years. But I'm going to write
about the buildings in the background.
The buildings on the left and center of the photo sat where the Mount Ayr Post Office is today. Buschboom &Rauth, of
Salina, Kansas, were contracted for the construction of the new post office and their crew began tearing down these buildings on October 12, 1939. A couple
of paragraphs in the October 19, 1939 Record-News, plus my research gives us a brief history of these structures.
The building on the corner was
built in 1875 by Dr. J. T. Merrill and DeWitt C. Kinsell as a bank. Banks that occupied this location were the Dunning (Day Dunning) Bank, Allyn Bros. (George
and John) Bank, and the Mount Ayr Bank (Allyn Bros. Bank was
renamed Mount Ayr Bank and relocated here in 1890 when their brick bank building burned). In the 1910s, this site was (Charles) Stranahan's Busy Corner,
a grocery store. Iowa Southern Utilities located here in 1919 but left after one year. Addie Milligan was the next occupant with her millinery shop. I
lost track of it after that.
The next building to the west was built in 1875 by DeWitt C. Kinsell. DeWitt was a pioneer hardware dealer having started
Kinsell Hardware about 1868. After Mr. Kinsell's death, his sons took over and Guy Todd bought into the business in 1926. Mr. Todd became the sole owner
in 1937 and the name was changed to Todd Hardware. I believe Guy stayed at this location until selling out for the new post office.
The next building to the
west appears to have been originally occupied by N. W. Clark's harness shop and was later occupied (1912) by veterinarian Dr. E. C. Sheumaker. The December
7, 1939 Record-News says the doctor
bought the building at 113 S. Fillmore, the current location of Tyler Insurance. So he must have occupied his old office until near the time for the
razing of the building.
The next building to the west was built in 1911 by Dave Neptune. Mr. Neptune was a pioneer auto mechanic and all-around
repairman. He moved here from Chariton, Iowa about 1894 and occupied a garage on Depot (Taylor) Street prior to building this cement block structure. In
1939 this repair shop was known as the Harold Davis Garage. West of the Davis garage was the alley.
I'm researching as I write and I see Dr. J. W. Hill occupied the corner building in 1939. He moved to the block building north of the Record-News
office in the 1940s.
Photograph courtesy of Mount Ayr Record-News
Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, September of 2015
