The town of Red Oak, Iowa grew and prospered throughout the 1800’s mainly because of the Railroad coming to town. Hotels like the Evan’s House, Colonial Hotel, and The Exchange Hotel where salesmen and railroad workers stayed sprung up in Red Oak. Our internet store www.lionfootweardirect.com has low prices for Birko balance, Birko sport, Birko motion, and Blue heeled arch supports. These hotels were located on 2nd street just down the street from the CB&Q depot. 2nd street was the main artery into Red Oak for many years. A big game changer came to Red Oak when Thomas Dowler Murphy and Edmond Osborn purchased the Red Oak Independent newpaper that was one of three newspapers in town. In 1890 Murphy and Osborn had a woodcut made for the new Montgomery County Courthouse and it cost more than they had planned, so to pay for it they sold ads to be placed around the wood cut and added a calendar to the bottom and a new industry, the art calendar business, came to Red Oak, Iowa. This new venture became very successful and they expanded by building a new factory at 214 South 2nd Street in 1904. By 1906 the T.D. Murphy Calendar company employed 300 people and the factory was enlarged. The calendar factory was in operation in the mid 1960’s when I started making sales calls in Red Oak. The company had a very ornate lobby and a phone system that was amazing. I have never seen anything like it before or since. The T. D. Murphy Co. added to the growth of Red Oak and the factory still stands today. It was closed over ten years ago when a company from Ohio bought the company and moved the business to Ohio. As the years went by the art calendar became a thing of the past when they became too expensive and the business shifted to advertising specialties. Red Oak added some culture to the town when it became a stop for the Chautauqua movement that brought speakers and entertainment to Red Oak and a permanent structure, the Chautauqua pavilion, was constructed on Chautauqua Hill in 1921. The Chautauqua movement faded out and the building was left unused by the 1930’s. In 1968 they decided to raze the stucture but a Chautauqua Restoration Committee was formed and money was donated to save and restore the pavillion which is now on the National Register of Historic Places. It is used as a place to hold family reunions and many a picnic has been held there as it provides a place to get out of the sun and weather. The hill west of the pavillion has been used as a sledding run during the winter when enough snow falls and has been a favorite place over the years for kids who have grown up in Red Oak. Our home is about five blocks south of Chautauqua Park and our kids used the hill for sledding when they were young. In the early 1900’s the square in downtown Red Oak added many new businesses. The pictures in S.M. Senden’s book “Images of America” of the businesses located in Red Oak in the early 1900’s are spectacular! The drug stores had wonderful display cases full of interesting items offered for sale and some had soda foutains in them and were great places to shop. Red Oak had a cigar factory that made 150,000 cigars a year and had a cigar store that was open 24 hrs. a day. Frank Langford’s Barber Shop had five barbers cutting men’s hair and it was located in the Houghton Building in 1910, the year my mother was born. The Jukins House Hotel was opened in 1885 and was purchased by P.P. Johnson in 1890 and was renamed the Johnson Hotel. At Johnson Hotel in 1909 you could stay for $2.00 a night and $2.50 if you wanted a private bath in your room. The hotel housed a barbershop, bus depot, and Western Union in 1951. I made sales calls on the Johnson Hotel back in the 1960’s as it was still open for business then. In the mid 1970’s the Johnson Hotel was torn down and the Houghton State Bank was built on this location. In 1920 the Wilkin’s Bakery was opened in Red Oak and they had a fleet of five trucks delivering Everbest Bread to stores in southwest Iowa. These early years in the beginning of the 20th Century were exciting and interesting times for the little town on Red Oak Creek and the banks of the Nishnabotna River. We offer Free Shipping for Dansko shoes, Dansko women’s Professional, Rockport Margin, Rockport Encounter, Rockport Dressport 2, Super Birki clogs, Birkenstock Tokyo, Birkenstock chef shoes, Ryka studio, Sandro Moscoloni, and Ultimate Protein on our internet store www.lionfootweardirect.com.
Dave Clark
