Dwellings -- Iowa -- Fort Dodge; Fort Dodge (Iowa) -- Buildings, structures, etc.; Historic buildings -- Iowa -- Fort Dodge
The Johnsons occupied the home until the summer of 1974 when it was sold
to Dr. and Mrs. Gary LeValley. The Johnsons then moved into their new
home at 1640 N. 22nd St.
Armstrong, who built the house at 1302 10th Ave. N., was married to the
former Mary Crawford, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. R. W. Crawford,
well-known early Fort Dodge residents. Mrs. Armstrong was prominent in
Iowa circles and was a member of the State Conservation Commission when
Dolliver State Park was dedicated in 1925. The Armstrongs were parents
of a daughter, Elizabeth.
For many years Armstrong was associated with the Oleson Drug Company as
a pharmacist and vice president of the firm. Later he was in the
Crawford-Armstrong real estate firm and manager of the Fort Dodge
Chemical Company.
THE WELCH HOME
A Fort Dodge shoe dealer, E. A. Welch and his wife, Helen, built this
attractive English type home nearly 50 years ago at 1105 Crawford
Avenue. Designed by Mrs. Welch and architect Frank Griffith, the house
is patterned after the Ann Hathaway Cottage at Stratford-on-Avon where
author William Shakespeare resided.
[Illustration: The Welch home
1105 Crawford Avenue]
The two-story home has gray cedar shingle shake siding with white wood
trim and a thatched shingle roof. The first floor includes hallway
inside the front entrance, living room with arched entryway, a den
converted from a former porch, kitchen with glassed-in dining room,
bedroom and bath.
The formal dining room on the first floor has a round walnut table with
six leaves—a gift from Miss Maude Lauderdale, first curator of the
Webster County Historical Society. There are also 12 walnut chairs, a
gift of O. M. Oleson, pioneer Fort Dodge pharmacist and uncle of Mrs.
Welch. The upstairs had two bedrooms and full bath and a large attic
playroom. The house is now owned and occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Richard O.
Welch and family.
E. A. (Ed) Welch was born in Fort Dodge in 1875 and had two brothers—Sam
and W. R. (Dick) Welch. Sam was in the shoe business with Ed; Dick was
in the drug business, operating the drug store in the Carver Building
(now O’Connell Drugs).
Both Ed and Sam were sales representatives for the Greene-Wheeler Shoe
Manufacturing plant here for many years. In 1907 they purchased the Ed
Rank Shoe Store at 607 Central Ave. and operated it under the name of
Welch Bros. Shoes. After a year in this location the store moved to 818
Central Ave. where it remained until moving in 1963 to its present large
and attractive location at 915 Central Ave.
Richard O. Welch, son of E. A. Welch, joined his father in the shoe
store in 1930. The elder Mr. Welch retired from the firm in 1947 and
died in 1953. Mrs. Welch, now 96, is a resident of Friendship Haven.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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