E. O. Dillin
E. O. Dillin began general merchandising in McCallsburg in 1897. Although he was not one of the very first merchants to start a business here, nevertheless his memories were of a main street lined with hitching posts. Every Saturday afternoon, horse and buggies lined main street, and the rush for the early day hitching post is comparable to the rush for a preferred spot in front of a present day parking meter.
He established business in a building rented from Samuel Reid in the location of the present day laundromat. The Dillin family occupied a small house to the rear of the store. Later this house was moved, with the Dillins in it, and is the house presently occupied by Mrs. Guy Mills. In his first store, Dillin carried a line of general merchandise, everything except hardware.
In 1901, Dillin built a two story frame building on the south side of Main Street, where Willis Mills now has his plumbing shop. The Dillins moved into one of the apartments above the store and Dr. and Mrs. Nordgren occupied the other.
This building burned in the winter in 1910. The Dillins and the Nordgrens escaped with only the clothes on their backs.
Dillin did not go back into business immediately but business interests in Mason City and Marshalltown kept him busy. Within a few years he was back in McCallsburg where he bought out a general mercantile store, operated by Arthur Stevens, in the site of the restaurant, west of the Dorcas Hall. At this time, he added a funeral service for the residents of McCallsburg. His line of caskets was kept in a room back of the former Co-Op filling station office.
E. O., as everyone far and near knew him, operated in this location until the depression of the 1930s when it deemed advisable to move the stock of the McCallsburg store and the one at Garden City to Nevada.
The Tett Store Building
The two story Tett building is very nearly fifty years old. It was built by F. J. Tett, an early resident of the community. One of his skills was masonry and he laid all the brick walls himself. The lumber for the building was salvaged from the barracks which were torn down at Camp Dodge after the end of World War I.
Frank had moved into town from his farm east of McCallsburg in the year 1911 for the purpose of retiring. He soon realized that he had to be doing something and he started up a shoe repair and harness repair shop. This business he conducted in the front end of his new building. His son, William, conducted an automobile agency in the rear of the building where he sold Overlands. In 1926 he changed over to Chevrolets. His first mechanic was John Helland who still lives in McCallsburg. Orville Ellingson took over the repair shop 35 years ago and is still repairing cars and tractors in the same location.