Jasper County, Iowa

IRA

Ira owes its beginning to the coming of the Diagonal Railroad. The route for the railroad between Des Moines and Marshalltown was settled in May of 1883. It bypassed the town of Greencastle, so many of its business firms and residents were moved to the new town of Mingo by the railroad. The town of Baxter was left a mile west of the railroad route, so most of its buildings were moved to a new site. The railroad company apparently wanted a town between the two towns.

Pioneers had lived in the area for many years. Union Chapel, northwest of Ira, was dedicated December 23, 1877 to serve the religious needs of a large area.

Salem Jeffries was named grantee of a land patent from the U.S., dated June 1, 1854. He sold 160 acres to Wm. F. Rippey who then sold 20 acres to the new railroad and the deed was recorded in November 21, 1883. Rippey was the name chosen for the new town, but it soon was discovered Iowa already had a Rippey, so the name Millard was on the plat for the town recorded on December 3, 1883. The post-office department objected to the name Millard because it was similar that of another town in Iowa. So the name Ira was selected and a post office was established with Salem Jeffries officially named the first postmaster of Ira on February 11, 1884.

There are conflicting stories about the name Ira. One is that it was the name of a railroad superintendent. Another said the name came from a well liked man in the area, Ira Titus.

The railroad was completed thru Ira in January of 1884. Peter A. Planalp was the first agent. Wells Fargo & Co., Express and Western Union Telegraph services were available by January 16, 1884.

After the, completion of the railroad things began to happen in the new town of Ira and vicinity. Alva Mershon put a sawmill into operation on the Wm. A.B. Tramel farm. Bower and Keifer built a carpenter shop in Ira. P. H. Early opened a lumber yard and he built the first home in the new town of Ira.

Salem Jeffries built a general merchandise store which also contained the post office and a family-residence on the second floor. John Anderson moved his store from Greencastle to Ira. J. Meyers built a blacksmith shop and Eli McQuiston constructed a hotel. James Gray built a brick yard along Turkey Creek. Fred Roberts became the town's barber.

A livery barn and a farm implement store were built. An elevator was built and corn storage bins appeared. A creamery did a thriving business. A hardware store was constructed with an attached dwelling.

Other businesses to follow were a harness maker and shoe repairman, a meat market, a drug store and a millinery store, a grain and stock buying firm and a grist mill opened for business.

The Ira Rural Free Delivery was established on April 1, 1904. F. G. Logsdon was the first, one and only R.F.D. Carrier and he held the position for thirty years.

Over the years business places and people came and went, but the town of Ira never became a city, remaining more of a village. The coming of the automobile probably contributed to the lack of growth of the town and also to the decline of business as residents went to the larger places to shop. The automobile can also be blamed for the removal of the railroad mail service and the eventual loss of passenger trains.

Churches, schools, banks, etc. are covered briefly in other stories.

A more complete account is also available in the "History of Ira" published in 1937.

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COMING EVENTS

Plans are underway for a Centennial Celebration for the town of Mingo on July 6 & 7, 1984. Bill Gannon and Susanne Fales are Co-chairpersons. A history book is being compiled and the committee will welcome information.

EXCERPTS FROM THE NEWTON JOURNAL and
NEWTON DAILY NEWS
REGARDING THE TOWN Of IRA

Nov. 14, 1883 -- J. Meyers is erecting a blacksmith shop. Work of grading the side track continues. Track has been laid two miles west of Indian Creek and is being pushed at the rate of a mile a day.

Dec. 19, 1883 -- The depot building is nearly finished. The agent will be Peter A. Planalp, a Jasper County boy from Hickory Grove. (Mr. Planalp left in April of 1886 and Howard Lindley took over.)

T. J. Hancer is about to put in stock yards and scales and then W. F. Rippey will buy and sell stock. (Mr. Rippey sent the first load of hogs over the new road on Jan. 30, 1884.)

Salem Jeffries will soon have his building ready for the new post office. (Jeffries was also the first storekeeper in town. The building housed both the Store and the post office. It also was the home of the Jeffries family on the second floor. Access was by an outside stairway on the south side. It was located north of the Ira Bank until the fall of 1934 when Roy Yarham tore it down and hauled the lumber back to Newton from whence it had come in 1883. The one story rear portion of the building became the home of Ross and Marvel Beardmore & later also housed the post office when Marvel was Postmistress.)

Dec. 26, 1883 -- Eli MoQuiston is building a hotel. Bower and Keifer are building a carpenter shop. Our blacksmiths are busy.

Jan. 16, 1884 -- The side track is completed and the telegraph finished. Alva Mershon will soon have a sawmill in operation on the land of W. A. Trammel in Independence Township.

Jan. 30, 1884 -- We expect the R.F.D. mail route by February 1st.

March 5, 1884 -- Joe Jeffries has a fine stock of groceries. Steps arebeing taken to prospect for coal.

Mr. A. Deeter is preparing to open a brickyard adjoining the town the coming season. A Mrs. Jones of Ohio expects to open a millinery store as soon as the building is erected.

March 12, 1884 -- The railroad company has changed the name of the station from Millard to Ira. We have four passenger trains daily.

April 21, .1886 -- We have a natural gas fountain in Ira -- no well- -come and see it.

The good people of Ira have passed a law prohibiting our young men from going to Baxter after dark; and it's a good one.

April 28, 1886 -- Mr. A. M. Hill, the village blacksmith, started for Nebraska Tuesday to work on the railroad.

May 5, 1886 -- Ira will soon have another blacksmith shop under the charge of Fred. Roberts.

May 12, 1886 -- Ira will soon lose some of her citizens, the A. M. Hill family. Mr. Hill thinks Ira cannot support two blacksmith shops.

Oct. 20, 1886 -- Mr. Salem Jeffries is buying grain at this place for Dixon Newbert. Mr. Win. Rippey shipped two carloads of wood to Marshalltown Wed.

Feb. 9, 1887 -- Ira is to have a boom this spring. A lumberyard, a hardware store, a grain and stock buying firm, and an M.D. from Indiana will be accessions to our businesses and several neat dwellings are to be built.

June 15, 1887 -- The Diagonal has come out with four new cabooses - -red as a turkey gobbler's neck -- and three new engines.

The Diagonal is soon to reduce mileage from cents to 3 cents. People think it will soon be reduced to 2 cents. Passes are not to be issued anymore.

Jan. 25, 1888 - Ira is to have a drugstore.

Some of the changes in Ira business in recent years.

Imogene Bucklin became Postmistress on June 1, 1971. She moved the post office to the east side store building shortly thereafter and she and her husband, Vernon, opened an antique business about the same time. They terminated that business with an auction in May 1977.

Mrs. Judith A. Keagle was appointed Postmistress on June 1, 1977. She operated a gift and hobby shop from November 1977 to November 1978. Judie had the Ira Store from June 1978 to September 1980. It became the Ira Food Center in September 1980 under lease to the Mingo Food Center and operated by Judie to April 1981. Since then she has had only the Ira Post Office in the east side brick building.

Max Bucklin built his body shop in 1978 east of the garage. It was then destroyed by fire in April 1980. Max rebuilt the building.

(OTHER IRA NEWS)

The first July 4th fireworks were in 1975. Home made ice cream & cake was served the spectators.

The first Ira July 4th celebration since many years was in 1980. It has continued since with fireworks.

In June 1931 Doctor Leland Weston, a former Ira resident, received his degree in medicine from the State University of Iowa.

Do you remember when the Ira school kids all gathered at the Blue Goose Cafe for the Mingo School bus.

In the History Of Ira published in 1976, I mistakenly reported that Mrs. Nellie Jeffries Colby, born in Ira in 1894, was the oldest living person to have lived in Ira.

However, Miss Faye Lowe, now living in Nelson Manor, Newton, was born on the 25th day of December, 1888, held and still holds that honor. Miss Lowe and her sister Babe Lowe Duncan were the teachers of the first Ira Independent School District teaching the two 1913 - 15 terms.

The Lowe sisters came to Ira as small children to make their home with their grandfather, Wm. F. Rippey, after their mother had died.

Nellie Jeffries Colby is now deceased. Former Ira school teachers, Jennie Crawford Palmer and Joy Mason, are also deceased.

Since the July 4th Centennial Celebration, the large oil storage tanks, which were north of the Church, have been removed.

Excerpts from "Other Notes" in the "IRA STAR".

Our Centennial Committee had quite a discussion one night on whether or not we should try to get someone really important to be the main guest at our Centennial Celebration.

After considerable discussion and examples of importance were given, we decided that everyone in our community is important. Not only that, but every one of our friends and neighbors who are helping in the effort to make the day a memorable one is Important (with a capital "I").

We are proud to have these kinds of people around us and figure some of these same kinds must have lived around here back in 1883 when this town was getting underway. In fact, all thru the years it has taken some Important People to keep the life flowing in this little town.

We hereby give our thanks to each of you who have helped and made your donation to receive this paper. May the Good Lord bless and keep you -- and we hope to see you in town this Fourth of July.

Salem Jeffries, Ira's first Post Master and store keeper and former farmer, was a member of the l0th Iowa General Assembly serving in the House of Representatives in 1856.

June 15, 1887 - The Diagonal has come out with four new cabooses --red as a turkey gobbler's neck -- and three new engines.

In April 1916 Ray Echternacht organized the first and only Boy Scout Troop in Ira.

CHURCHES IN IRA AND AREA

(NOTE: Since a fairly complete history of the Churches was in the "History of Ira, Iowa." published in 1976, it will not be repeated here. However, Mr. Larry Ray Hurto, 1211 S. 14th Ave. W., Newton, Iowa, has kindly furnished me with a more complete listing of the Ministers of these churches. Our thanks to Mr. Hurto for his extensive research and his permission to use the lists.) (Donald A. Price, Editor.)

UNION CHAPEL

Clear Creek Twp.
Ministers
l877-c. 1899

Other Ministers - no date

* Also known as M.W. Simons
+ Also known as Mr. Enfield
# Student

In the absence of a minister, Lay Leaders of the Chapel often conducted Church services.

IRA METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH IRA METHODIST CHURCH (ORGANIZED 1889)

Ministers and Pastors 1889 - 1969

Rev. Patterson
Rev. Raymond
T. A. Lampson
E. C. Hackathorn
Frank Ewan
M. A. Wright
William Blood
Rev. Bartholo
C. C. Wilkins
W. S. Wright   -  1887 - 1900
Rev. Banthalow   -  1901 - 1902
W. D. Price   -  1903 - 1909
Charles Knoll
William W. Williams
Rev. Hill
Rev. Stevenson
W. L. Allen
Rev. Keiser
Rev. Johnson
Forest Hood Perkins
B. H. Finch Rev. Luce
H. D. Simmons
T. C. Aten   -  1916
E. I. Blevins
Rev. Hiller
Carl J. Gray  -   1937
Monroe Jackson Rarick   -  1943
Everett Lanning
O. J. Woodman   -  1945
C. H. Hiller
(Supply) Raymond C. Lott, Jr.   -   1949
L. C. Murry
Harold E. Schirm   -   1953
James A. Walls
Rev. Grisby
Rev. Tyler
(Supply) Dwayne Weeda   -   1955
Lloyd H. Olson
(Supply) Lloyd Olson
Dale J. Nicholson   -   1961
Ray G. Tyler
L. Duane Churchman   -   1964
Clark Watkins
Austin G. Rugger   -   1967
(Supply) J. Jerry Oliver  -   1967-1968
Jerry Tilden  -   1968
(Supply) Douglas Reed   -   1968-l969

IRA CHURCH OF CHRIST CHRISTIAN CHURCH CHURCH OF CHRIST

MINISTERS and PASTORS 1899-1968

C. H. Clancy   -   1899
Rev. Baren   -   1903-1906
Rev. Mitchell
Rev. Borom
C. H. Clancy
No Pastor   -   1910
Walter H. Sandy   -   1910-1911
C. A. Underwood
J. H. Ragan   -   1916
Sam Williamson
Gerald Flynn
Kenneth.Tuttle
Rev. Utterback
Harold Jones
J. Wm Dillinger
Ivan Campbell
Theodore Mallinkrodt
Robert L. Burns
Wm. Turner
Marshall Meyers
Rev. Coleman
Walter Purdy   -   1968

UNITED METHODIST AND CHRISTIAN CHURCH IRA UNITED METHODIST CHRISTIAN CHURCH

Ira

Pastors 1968- 1978
(Supply) Douglas Reed   -   1968-1969
Laurence L. Garrett   -   1969-1970
William Leonard Rowse   -   1970-1973
Richard Lee (Dick) Clark   -   1973-1975
Jerome Stewart   -   1975
(Lay) Robert (Bob) Connor   -   19751977
James R. (Jim) Pemble   -   1977-1978

In May of 1968 the Christian and Methodist Churches of Ira united under the name of "the Ira United Methodist-Christian Church." The big bell from the Methodist Church was moved to the belfry of the Christian Church, and services were held there.

The Methodist Church property was sold to Jack Bucklin who tore down the old Church building, dedicated in 1893.

THE UNITED CHURCH OF IRA

Congregational meetings were held on Sunday, July 23, 1978, by members of both the United Methodist and the Christian Churches of Ira "for the purpose of taking formal action to allow the merging of these legal non profit Iowa Corporations into one corporation known as the "UNITED CHURCH of IRA." A house of worship was provided by the purchase of the Ira Grange building, which was built as a school house with the help of W. P. A. workers in 1937. This brick building of modern construction had a two room school on the first floor and a community hall in the basement. It was remodeled by replacing the old flat roof with a new sloping roof. The interior was remodeled as a Church Sanctuary, Sunday School rooms and office. Also new pews and furnishings were provided and new lighting. The basement was retained as a community hall.

Rev. James Robert Pemble, a member of the Iowa Conference of the United Methodist Church, was pastor of the Church from the time of the merger to June 15, 1983.

On June 15, 1983, Rev. Elton Nolte became the pastor. Robert Matthews was elected Lay Leader of the Church in 1978.

The Church sponsors a pre school in the community room for service for children from Ira, Mingo and Baxter. The director is Carol Myers and her assistant is Cinda Dee.

The building is for all community activities.
By Larry Key Hurto and Donald A. Price.

When the Christian Church building was torn down, the old bell was moved to the corner of the new Church yard and rested on the ground until recently when some good people mounted it on an appropriate and attractive pedestal.