Part 4

The basic arrangement of the home has not changed much through the years but owners did considerable remodeling to fit their needs. The first floor includes spacious living and dining rooms, family or TV room, kitchen and bedroom with half bath. The second floor has three bedrooms and bath. There is also a large floored attic and a full basement. The house originally had a tile roof but this has been replaced with new type roofing. All spouting on the house is of copper. The home is set back a considerable distance from Nineteenth Street and there is a circular driveway leading to the house.

Mr. and Mrs. Hays purchased the home in 1959 from John and Ann Doud who acquired it in 1955. Other earlier owners were Arthur Westerman, Richard Paul and Robert Lentz.

Hays, present owner of the attractive home, is a virologist with the Fort Dodge Laboratories. He and his wife are parents of four children—three boys and a girl.

THE MINKEL HOUSE

This Fort Dodge home—known for many years as “the Minkel house”—dates its history back nearly 100 years as it was built in 1876, according to county records. Located at 1008 6th Ave. N., the home has been remodeled at various times during these many years and is presently owned and occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Wayne Moses. They purchased the property in 1961 and added a combination living room and bedroom with bath on the east side.

The house now has a living room, dining room, three bedrooms and two baths on the first floor and two bedrooms upstairs. Two wood-burning fireplaces—one in the living room, the other in the east bedroom—have now been converted to gas.

The house acquired the Minkel name because it was owned and occupied by L. H. Minkel, Fort Dodge school superintendent and his family, for many years. Minkel came to Fort Dodge to take over the school position and continued as superintendent until 1923. The Minkel family resided in the Sixth Avenue home during this period and for many succeeding years when Minkel was in the insurance business here. The Minkel heirs sold the home to Mr. and Mrs. Louis C. DeFoe, who in turn, sold it to the Moses family.

Mr. and Mrs. Minkel were parents of five children—Lewis Minkel, now retired and living in Laguna Hills, Calif.; Eleanor, now deceased who was married to Roger Files of Fort Dodge; Dr. Roger Minkel, now deceased; Elizabeth (Betty) Myser of Ketchikan, Alaska; and Willard Minkel of La Mesa, Calif.

Minkel purchased the home when he came to the city early in 1911. John F. Duncombe, pioneer Fort Dodge attorney and industrialist, acquired the lot on which the house is located in 1864. In 1872 he sold the lot to Julia A. Ingersoll and it was during her ownership that the home was built.

Stories about the house relate that it once was occupied by a Dutch seaman who built a cupola in the style of a ship’s pilot house on the porch above the front entryway. It was removed many years ago.

Mr. Moses, the present owner of the house, is an Illinois Central Railroad conductor. He and his wife are parents of three daughters, all of whom are married and living elsewhere.

THE CONWAY HOME

An early-day lumber dealer—Owen Conway—who came to the United States in 1845 from his native Ireland and to Fort Dodge in 1865 built the house at 400 S. 8th St. in 1882.

Conway, who was in the hardware and lumber business here, resided in the home with his family for many years. The house remained in possession of members of the Conway family until 1946 when it was sold to John J. Williams. It was owned by Mr. and Mrs. Ray Howick who remodeled the first floor into a spacious apartment for themselves. Mrs. Howick continues to reside in the home following the death of her husband.

A large porch extends across the front of the house which faces the east. Square columns standing atop railing posts support the porch roof and are joined together with ornate wood trim. Windows of the house have distinctive outdoor arched tops and there are pointed dormers with windows on the four sides of the roof.

The home originally had a living room, parlor, dining room, master bedroom and bath and kitchen on the first floor; six bedrooms and bath on the second floor. The second floor has been converted into a large apartment with three baths and there is also an apartment on the third floor. Rooms downstairs are large with high ceilings, floors are of oak and doors have double board casings.

Conway’s first business venture in the city was a hardware store and in 1869 he established a lumber business at First Avenue South and Fifth Street that continued until 1939. Conway’s sons James and John, were in business with him for many years. After the business was incorporated in 1914 as the Conway Lumber Company the firm included Owen, John, James and Ed Conway, the latter a son of John Conway.

James, Dave and Eustace Conway, sons of the pioneer, operated a general merchandise store at 612 1st Ave. S. and Dave, Eustace and Owen P. Conway also had a general store and lumber yard in Moorland. Two other sons, were in business in Clare—F. D. Conway, lumber and grain, and C. P. Conway, general store. The elder Owen Conway died in 1916.

Two grandchildren of the founder of the Conway firms reside in Fort Dodge. They are Miss Delores and Owen Conway. There are also two great grandsons living here—Ray and Robert Conway.

THE THIEDE HOME

Franz Thiede, who owned and operated a brick plant here for many years, built this large brick residence in 1890. The 14-room house at 520 N. 2nd St. has changed little since it was built and today is owned by a son, Frank Thiede and the estate of the late Elma Thiede.

The house occupies the back portion of a lot that has a frontage of 160 feet on Second Street and extends back 230 feet. The first floor of the large, sturdy residence has a hall, parlor, living room, dining room, sunroom, kitchen, bedroom and bath. On the second floor are six bedrooms.

Rooms on the first floor have 10½ foot ceilings and woodwork throughout the house was cut from native lumber. The hall and parlor have walnut woodwork as does the stairway to the second floor. Other rooms have oak woodwork and oak floors. Doors and woodwork in the house shine with the original varnish applied in 1890.

Thiede was born in Germany and studied masonry and architectural work there. He came to the U. S. in 1858 and at the age of 21 arrived in Fort Dodge and began masonry work. In 1883 he and Charles Heileman organized a brick manufacturing company and built a plant near the east end of the Hawkeye Avenue bridge over the Des Moines River.

The plant operated under the name of Thiede & Heileman until Heileman’s death in 1895. In the spring of 1896 the company was reorganized under the name of Thiede & Company. Later the name was changed to the Fort Dodge Brick & Tile Company and continued under this name until the plant was sold in 1922.

The company manufactured a high grade paving, building and sidewalk brick and blocks as well as drain tile. One of the firm’s specialties was a fine quality white pressed brick used in many homes and business buildings here. Much of the brick used in paving streets in the city in the early days came from the Thiede plant.

Thiede erected several downtown buildings, also houses, and had a part in the building of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church. After a long and successful business career in the city, he died in 1925 at age 88.

THE OLSON HOME

A house patterned after a “cozy cottage in Norway” is the Olson home at 1301 3rd Ave. N.—the home of Mr. and Mrs. Evan Olson, their son Bjorn, and daughter, Mrs. Doris Olson Wood, for many years.

The Olsons were women’s apparel designers and tailors and their expert work was widely known. Olson and Mrs. Wood also were artists and their paintings gained for them a wide reputation.

The Olson house which has rooms on first and second floors, dates back to 1897 when it was built on a lot across the street from its present location. The original site was at the east end of Johnson Place. When this block-long street was cut through from Twelfth to Thirteenth Streets in 1911 in order to provide building lots in a previously inaccessible area, the Olson house was moved to the southeast corner of Third Avenue North and Thirteenth Street—its present location.

The house remained in possession of Mrs. Wood for many years after the death of her parents and she continued her tailoring and art work there. After her death the property was sold in 1969 to Mrs. Helen L. Moreland who presently resides there.

Olson turned out many fine oil paintings during spare time from his tailoring work. Mrs. Wood’s art work was mostly in water colors. Both spent many hours in wooded areas around the city sketching and then completing the paintings at home. Mrs. Wood also made a trip to Norway where she did extensive sketching and painting. As a result many of her water colors were scenes from Norway. She also turned out paintings of farms and rural area scenes.

Mrs. Wood painted and decorated the kitchen of her home in the style of Norwegian kitchens. It became so widely known that a picture of the kitchen and a story about her work appeared in Better Homes and Gardens magazine. The interior of the home has been remodeled by Mrs. Moreland and the downstairs now includes a living room, two bedrooms and a kitchen. The second floor has one bedroom and a bath. Walls have been painted, new floors laid and jalousie doors installed. Exterior of the house is painted red and growing on the outside walls are five different varieties of ivy plants.

THE WRIGHT HOME

This was the residence of a pioneer businessman and early-day railroad official—Thomas H. Wright. Built in the late 1880s, the home at 209 S. 7th St., has been owned and occupied by members of the Wright family since then. Many changes have been made in the home since it was constructed. In the late 1930s it was modernized, a new entryway was added and brown cedar shingles were applied to the exterior.

Isaac Garmoe, another pioneer businessman here, bought the property in 1873. Ten years later it was sold to Thomas H. Wright who later erected the house which is still owned by his two daughters—the Misses Marie Wright and Florence Wright. Marie is a retired Fort Dodge Senior and Junior High school social studies teacher; Florence is the former organist at First Presbyterian Church.

The two-story frame house has two living rooms, dining room and kitchen on the first floor; three bedrooms and bath on the second floor. A garage is at the rear of the lot where once was a two-story barn that housed the family’s horse, buggy and sleigh.

Mr. Wright was born in Toronto, Canada, in 1840 and came to the United States in 1871. He moved to Fort Dodge in the early 1880s where he was trainmaster for the Illinois Central Railroad’s Sioux City division. Later he was owner and partner in the hardware business here with S. J. Robertson. Their store was at Central Avenue and Sixth Street.

After retiring from the hardware business, Mr. Wright was in the real estate and insurance business. He also was an officer and director of the First Trust & Savings Bank, a division of the old First National Bank, now the State Bank. Always civic minded, Wright served on the public library board in the days of Capt. W. H. Johnston, one of the city’s early library presidents. He was also a member and officer of the First Presbyterian Church.

There were six children in the Wright family—two boys who died during a diphtheria epidemic; Misses Marie and Florence Wright; Thomas H. Wright Jr., who died in Cedar Rapids in 1970; and Robert L. Wright of Oklahoma City. The elder Mr. Wright died in 1932 at age 92.

THE VAN AULT HOME

This house at 1040 9th Ave. SW has been known as the home of Fort Dodge’s “Santa Claus” for the past 39 years. “Santa Claus” is, of course, Van J. Ault, 79, who was the official Santa for the Boston Store here for 25 years and during that time greeted thousands of youngsters in the store’s toyland.

Van retired from his interesting occupation some years ago but occasionally now will don the red and white costume and appear at a party. Van figures he played the part of “Santa Claus” here for a total of 49 years. While he spent much time as Santa he was a meat cutter by trade and worked for the A. & P. Store here many years ago. Later he and his son John purchased the Kubicek Grocery on Tenth Avenue Southwest and operated it for a time.

The Ault home is located on property that once was owned by Major William Williams who platted Fort Dodge in 1854 and was its first mayor and postmaster. The property has changed ownership many times since then and was acquired by Van’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. John Ault, in 1905. The first deed of record for the property was dated 1864—a conveyance to C. C. Smeltzer.

Original portion of the present house was built during the 1860s. Since then it has been modernized extensively. Van and his wife purchased the property in 1936 and have lived there since that time. The house had four rooms when built, no porches and the exterior was marked by 1 × 12 vertical siding. Van enlarged the house by adding two rooms, bath, two large porches and a full basement. Van’s brother-in-law and sister, Mr. and Mrs. Joe Winneka owned the house prior to its purchase by the Van Aults.

Mr. and Mrs. Ault were parents of four children—Robert with the Celotex Corporation in Knoxville, Tenn.; John who owns Big John’s Place; Ray, owner of Ray’s Meat Market; and Mrs. Paul (Lola) Lynch of Pioneer.

THE LOHR HOME

This sturdy brick residence was built 80 years ago in northeast Fort Dodge when there was only one other house (the Lou Alger home) to the east of its location at 1831 10th Ave. N.

Known for years as the Lohr home, it has changed ownership a number of times and for the past 29 years has been owned and occupied by a number of well-known business and professional men here. Present owners are Mr. and Mrs. M. James Hutchison who have lived in the home since 1967.

The two-story house has a one-story brick addition on the east side—built in recent years. Walls of the original home are of solid brick construction so popular more than three quarters of a century ago. The first floor includes the family room in the addition, living room, dining room, kitchen and bath and three bedrooms and bath on the second floor.

The exterior brick is painted white and windows have black shutters. The roof overhang is also painted black to match the roofing. The house occupies two lots with a frontage of 75 feet on Tenth Avenue North and 190 feet in depth.

The house was built in 1895 by Michael Lohr who came to the United States from his native Germany and settled in Fort Dodge in 1894. He purchased a 3½-acre tract of land along Tenth Avenue North from David A. Haviland who had acquired it from the federal government in 1857; built the house and lived on this acreage for many years.

Lohr’s son, Peter J. Lohr, acquired the house and adjoining property in 1911 and retained possession until 1941 when it was deeded to his daughter Alice M. Thomas. Warren A. Downs, manager of the Sears store purchased the home in 1946 from Alice M. Thomas and husband, Bernard J. Thomas. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas had lived in the home from 1938 to 1946.

Later owners and occupants of the home were L. H. and Virginie Anderson of the Jones Piano House; Mr. and Mrs. Robert Kirkberg of Kirkberg Jewelers; Mr. and Mrs. Jon McClure of McClure Engineering; and Mr. and Mrs. Hutchison, the present occupants. Hutchison is president of First Federal Savings & Loan Association of Fort Dodge. The house has been extensively remodeled and modernized in recent years.

Peter J. Lohr, who owned the property for many years, farmed east of the city before moving into the home. He then was employed by the Thompson Buttertub Company here and later was a rural mail carrier. Three of his sons—Ray, Clarence and Walter—live in the city.

THE CRAWFORD HOME

Architecture of the late 19th century features this large house at 302 S. 8th St., which has now been converted into a four-apartment building. Built in 1875, the two-story frame house was owned and occupied for many years by Robert W. Crawford, an early-day druggist in Fort Dodge.

Two large Ionic columns mark the main entryway on the east side of the house which stands at the southwest corner of Third Avenue South and Eighth Street. Crawford purchased the lot on which the house stands from Thomas Snell, a pioneer real estate dealer here. The house has changed ownership only a few times since Crawford constructed it and presently it is owned by Mr. and Mrs. Peter J. Salvatore who acquired it in 1965. There are two apartments on both the first and second floors. One of the downstairs apartments is occupied by the Salvatores.

All of the rooms are large and typical of the style of the era when it was built. One of the downstairs living rooms has the original fireplace and there is an attractive circular stairway leading to the upstairs.

Crawford was in the wholesale and retail drug business during the early years of Fort Dodge. He erected a large building at the northwest corner of Central Avenue and Sixth Street—known as the Crawford Block—in which his store was located. The structure was destroyed in the big fire that struck the area in December of 1956.

A product known as “Gopher Death” was developed by Crawford which was manufactured and distributed through the Fort Dodge Chemical Company which he organized. The product was widely sold throughout the nation. In 1945 the company was purchased by Jewell A. Johnson, a Fort Dodge druggist, who continued its operation until he sold the business in 1970.

There were three children in the Crawford family—a daughter and two sons. The daughter, Mary, was married to E. F. Armstrong, a long-time pharmacist here with the Oleson Drug Company. Mrs. Armstrong was prominent in Fort Dodge and Iowa circles; taught English in high school and was appointed to the State Conservation Commission. The sons were Charles, who operated the Crawford Hotel here and Robert, now a physician at Burlington.

Crawford-Armstrong addition in the north part of the city was opened by the two families for which it was named and Crawford-Armstrong Park was their gift to the city.

THE JOHN M. MULRONEY HOME

Another of Fort Dodge’s brick residences built by pioneer businessmen is the one pictured above which dates back to 1871. Erected by John M. Mulroney, it is located at 302 S. 7th St.

The two-story house was built of soft red brick manufactured by one of the city’s early-day brick plants and they are generally in good condition after more than 100 years. Basement walls are of native stone.

Additions have been made to the house since it was constructed—on the west and south sides. The original part of the house has seven large rooms, hallway and stairway and is now occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Henry W. Janssen who acquired the property in 1944. The additions to the house have apartments.

John M. Mulroney was born in Ireland in 1832 and came to the United States at age 16 and took part in the 1849 gold rush in the west and prospered there. He then returned to the middlewest and settled in Emmetsburg where he engaged in the cattle business. He married Jane Evans there in 1858 and they moved to Fort Dodge. On arrival here he purchased and operated a general store on the south side of the City Square. Some time later he sold the store and with Webb Vincent, E. H. Rich and G. L. Rich organized the original First National Bank here.

Mulroney and his wife Jane, were parents of the following children: Mary, who became the wife of Ed O’Connell; John E. Mulroney, father of attorney John Mulroney who was a judge of the U. S. Tax Court in Washington, D. C. for many years; Joe, Will and Louis, all of whom were associated with the Mulroney Manufacturing Company which had its first plant at Central Avenue and Tenth Street, the present location of Wahkonsa Manor. After fire destroyed the plant the company built the three-story brick building at First Avenue North and Seventh Street now the home of the Marso & Rodenborn Company.

Two other sons were Charles, a physician in general practice here for some years; and Edward, a lawyer who lived in Missoula, Mont. After the death of his first wife, Jane, J. M. Mulroney married Hannah Byrne of Moorland. They were parents of two sons—Robert, a lawyer who also practiced in Missoula, Mont., and Frank, in the Flaherty & Mulroney clothing store here.

A large barn was built south and west of the Seventh Street home to house the several horses, carriages, sleighs and racing carts which Mulroney owned. He generally had one or more horses in county fair harness races in the area. A large box stall in the barn was used as a boxing ring.

Two grandsons and one great grandson of pioneer John M. Mulroney reside in Fort Dodge. They are William V. (Bill) and Richard J. (Dick) Mulroney who operate the Mulroney Insurance Agency founded by their father Will Mulroney; and Gary Mulroney of Mulroney Construction Company, the great grandson.

THE METHODIST PARSONAGE

The former First Methodist Church parsonage, where the author of “best seller” novel “One Foot in Heaven” was reared, is this residence at 1518 3rd Ave. N.

Hartzell Spence was the writer and his father—the Rev. W. H. Spence—was pastor of the church here from 1909 to 1917. The story relates the life and experiences of the Rev. Mr. Spence and family while here and in other parishes. Following publication of the novel, it was made into a hit motion picture in the early 1940s.

The Rev. Mr. Spence, 34, was assigned to the Fort Dodge church in 1909 and Hartzell Spence recalls in his book that President William Howard Taft came to the city shortly after that to visit U. S. Senator J. P. Dolliver. The President gave Hartzell a “pat on the head” during that visit, he notes.

The original Methodist church in Fort Dodge was built at the southeast corner of Second Avenue South and Seventh Street in 1858. The second church was erected at the northeast corner of First Avenue North and Tenth Street and dedicated in 1878. This church, around which the novel revolves, was a stately red brick edifice with a towering steeple. Just to the east of the church was the large two-story frame parsonage built in 1893 which was the home of the Spences.

This parsonage was in use until 1914 when it was sold and moved to the Third Avenue North location where it is now owned and occupied by Mr. and Mrs. C. P. McGrane. Removal of the house was made necessary to make way for the present First United Methodist Church which was dedicated in 1915. First Church now has its parsonage at 1211 N. 11th St.

Mr. and Mrs. McGrane acquired the property at 1518 3rd Ave. N. in 1939 and have since resided there. It has been extensively remodeled and modernized and now has four rooms, bath and music room on the first floor and four bedrooms and bath on the second floor.