Friday, September 11, 2009.

We stopped at Garden Grove, which included a check on the renovation progress of the Stearn mansion.

It appears that most of the renovation work has been completed. All that remains of the carriage house is the chimney. Above left is Mrs. and Squire Stearns with their race horse, Lady Amber.

  Going on north, we were amazed to find the LeRoy School still standing and in good shape. For some reason, I had thought that the school had been demolished. LeRoy's school was built in the summer of 1904.

  LeRoy's Presbyterian Church was constructed in 1890. It has lost its belfry at some point in time. This is a common loss for a lot of the old churches, given Southern Iowa's weather.

  We looked at the building east of the church. Upon closer inspection, we realized that this was LeRoy's depot. According to Mike's reseach and resources, the depot had been demolished. Yet there it stood, peeking out of the weeds and wild black-eyed Susans.

Left: baggage section.   Right: looking from baggage section to telegraph office, window to ticket agent and on to the lobby and front door (as seen through the telegraph office window).

From LeRoy, we headed to Humeston in Wayne County.

Contribution by Sharon R. Becker, September of 2009