Dwellings -- Iowa -- Fort Dodge; Fort Dodge (Iowa) -- Buildings, structures, etc.; Historic buildings -- Iowa -- Fort Dodge
THE CARVER HOME
A well-known eye, ear, nose and throat doctor in Fort Dodge—Dr. W. F.
Carver—erected this attractive home at 905 Northwood Ave., in 1920.
Earlier he had maintained his office and residence in a large house at
the southeast corner of Central Avenue and Tenth Street built in the
early 1890s by Col. Leander Blanden. This historic structure was razed
in 1915 to make way for the present Carver Building.
The two-story Snell Place house was built of buff colored brick but in
later years the exterior was painted white. The first floor includes a
hall, large living room with marble fireplace, sunparlor also with
fireplace, dining room with built-in china closet, large kitchen and
breakfast room modernized in recent years and a half bath. The second
floor has four bedrooms and bath.
[Illustration: The Carver home
905 Northwood Avenue]
The large plastered attic room has been painted and made more livable.
The attic has 12 large drawers for storage; these measure 36 inches
wide, 12 inches deep and pull out 50 inches.
Dr. Carver purchased the Snell Place lot in late 1919 after his
discharge from overseas duty during World War I and built the home in
1920. In 1938 it was sold to L. G. Shannon. Following Mr. Shannon’s
death the house was sold in 1957 to Gene Gutknecht. He and his wife and
family presently occupy the home. The house now has all natural birch
woodwork following an extensive refinishing project by Gutknecht.
Dr. Carver was born in Madison County in 1869 and graduated in 1894 from
the Louisville Medical College, a division of the University of
Kentucky. He started his general practice of medicine in Murray, Iowa.
Following his marriage, the couple moved to Fort Dodge in 1900. They
built a home at 1420 4th Ave. N. in 1904 and lived there for a few years
and then purchased the Blanden House at the southeast corner of Central
Avenue and Tenth Street.
The family resided in the historic house until it was decided to raze it
and erect a downtown business and office building. The first two floors
of the Carver Building were built in 1915 and later six more floors were
added. The Blanden house had a conservatory in the south portion where
plants and flowers flourished beautifully the year around. Ceilings in
the house were 13 feet in height and all wood work was solid walnut.
Doors were heavy—from two to three inches thick.
Dr. and Mrs. Carver had three children—two sons who carried on the
medical profession and a daughter. They were Dr. W. F. Carver Jr., now
retired and living in Arizona; Dr. James Carver, now deceased; and Mrs.
Susan Carver Anderson of Seattle, Wash.
THE REYNOLDS HOME
A. S. R. Reynolds, an early-day Fort Dodge merchant who constructed the
three-story Reynolds Block Building at Central Avenue and Seventh
Street, also erected this home at 1202 4th Ave. N. Reynolds and his wife
resided in the home for many years after it was completed in 1910.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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