For 65 years, Ames Stationers was the premier office supply store on Main Street.  Items from typewriters and paper clips to cameras and greeting cards were available for home, office, and classroom.  Who could ever forget their reliable Remington, Royal, and Smith-Corona typewriter brands or their classic Parker, Esterbrook and Scheaffer fountain pens?  The origin of the business may be traced to Grove News, an early newsstand operated by E.T. Grove and located at the east end of Main Street.  The Grove family provided early Ames with a number of prominent businessmen.

In 1912, the Grove store was sold to two business partners from Odebolt, Iowa, Charles Reynolds (1884-1953) and D.L. Iversen (1891-1970), who changed the store’s name to Ames News Stand.  After two years, the business was relocated to the Woods Building at 238 Main Street and re-named “Reynolds and Iversen, Ames Newsstand.”  Charles Reynolds began his business career in 1904 at the Iversen and Dinges general store in Odebolt.  He was past president of the Ames Chamber of Commerce and also served on its board for six years.  Mr. Reynolds also served on the boards of the Ames School District, Mary Greeley Hospital, and Ames Trust and Savings Bank.  He was a 25-year member of Ames Rotary Club, and for many years had an interest in the Campus Drug Store.

D.L. (Devella Lloyd) Iversen was a founding member of the Ames Chamber of Commerce, and served on the board of the Ames Civil Service Commission.  He was chair of the War Services Branch of the Ames Civilian Defense Council, and a continuous member of the Ames Rotary Club from 1921 until his death.  In his church work, he served on boards and committees of the United Church of Christ (Congregational).

In 1914, Reynolds and Iversen expanded their operations to campustown where they opened the Student Supply Store in a building on Lincoln Way near the present US Bank.  The store was moved in 1916 to a new building at 2424 Lincoln Way.  Donald Ross, who came to work there in 1928, recalled how the store changed in the 1950s when self-service was initiated.  Prior to that time, students handed clerks their class schedules, and textbooks were retrieved by staff.  In 1955, Stevenson’s Fabric Shop vacated the old wooden building next door.  After it was torn down, a new structure was built for book store expansion.  Remodeling more than doubled the Student Supply space.  Richard Ross, son of Don, joined the business in 1959 during a time when paperback books were flooding the market.  He also witnessed the decline in sales of slide rules, the ever-present status symbol hung from the belts of engineering students.

Various partners were added through the years.  Donald Ross was hired in 1925, Jack W. Hazlett in 1928, and Ray Van Meter in 1931.  Reynolds and Iversen dissolved their partnership in 1938.  As a result, Reynolds ended up owning the Student Supply Store and Iversen ended up with the downtown store.  In 1945, Jack Hazlett and Ray Van Meter joined Iversen in ownership of the Main Street store which was renamed Ames Stationers.  Marvin F. Miller started working in 1939 and joined the company as a partner in 1952.  Iversen, Hazlett and Miller incorporated in 1956, but in 1966, the business was sold to Hazlett and Miller.

Shown are Jack Hazlett, left, and Marvin Miller, partners with D.L. Iversen in the Ames Stationers, who are looking over the camera section where everything needed for photographic work is stocked.

Ames Daily Tribune, August 16, 1954 Ames Stationers, 238 Main street, furnishes Ames trade area residents with 1,000 and 1 items for the home, office and classroom from cameras to Hallmark cards and typewriters to paper clips.  Owned by the partnership of Iversen, Hazlett and Miller, the business has been in the same location here since 1918 and was known as Reynolds and Iversen until 1945. Jack Hazlett, who is the managing partner of the firm, started in the business in 1928 and bought into the store when Reynolds gave up his interest.  Marvin Miller, who had worked in the store since 1938, joined the firm as a partner in 1952 while the other partner, D.L. Iversen, is not active in the store. Ames Stationers specializes in writing and typing materials, camera equipment, Hallmark cards, books, games and gift items.  The store has a tremendous stock of hundreds of items in these departments.  In 1953 the store was remodeled on the inside, following the remodeling of the store front the year before, and besides replacing fixtures and decoration the interior, the floor space was increased by 25 per cent and a balcony was added for the business offices. Ames Stationers has a complete camera department, headed by Duane Scott since 1945, which features the top camera lines in the world, including Kodak, Leica, Argus, Bell and Howell and Graflex.  This department handles everything needed by the camera fan from films of all types to projectors, enlargers, camera cases, lenses, movie cameras and equipment and many corresponding items such as film chemicals, darkroom equipment, flash bulbs and photographic paper. Ames Stationers has the most complete selection of greeting cards in Ames with the famous Hallmark cards for every occasion and in a complete line of prices.  The vast Hallmark section includes cards for everyday usage and for seasonal events from birthdays, weddings, anniversaries and thank you notes to special cards for each season and holiday. In its fountain pen section, the store features the finest lines with complete stocks of Scheaffer, Parker and Esterbook pens.  Ames Stationers has the entire new line of Scheaffer's snorkle pens in a price range from $7.50 to $27.50, as well as the regular scheaffer pens and Fineline ball-point pens.  In its complete stock of Parker pens the store features the famous Parker 51 and 21 as well as the Parker Jotter ball-point.  The store carried desk sets from both pen companies.  The Esterbrook, which is in the popular price field, makes a perfect pen for school because the points are interchangeable for different types of writing.  Esterbrook is the oldest steel-point pen manufacturer in the country. In its extensive department of office supplies and typewriters, Ames Stationers features portable typewriters by Smith-Corona, Royal and Remington as well as adding machines and rebuilt typewriters.  With these machines the store also handles office furniture and fixtures from Art Metal of Jamestown, N.Y., and Invincible companies, including desks, chairs, files, bookcases and desk lamps to mention only a few items. Ames Stationers also carries books, games, stationery, school supplies and gift items to round out its wonderful stock of items for the homes, offices and classrooms of central Iowa.

Barbara Jacobson and Cliff Sevold handle the writing supplies, including the famous Scheaffer, Parker and Esterbrook pens as well as Smith-Corona, Royal and Remington portable typewriters.

Ames Stationers advertisement from the 1964 Centennial Edition of the Ames Daily Tribune

View images of the Ames Stationers fire of 1987.  Additional information about the history of Ames Stationers is available in the 2008 Winter issue of the Ames Historical Society newsletter.