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Interurban on Main Street

Often mistaken for the town-to-college steam Dinkey which operated on 5th Street, the electric Interurban shown here served Ames beginning in July of 1907.  The Fort Dodge, Des Moines & Southern Railroad had purchased the Ames & College Railroad to combine the college shuttle with service to Boone and Des Moines.

This winter view looking west on Main Street from Duff Avenue was probably taken between 1911 and 1914.  Ames Hotel (formerly known as Davis Hotel) on the northwest corner of Duff Avenue and Main Street is just out of sight on the right, but the Lynn Morris Livery Stable and the Princess Theater are visible.  The tall building in the distance is the Odd Fellows Hall which burned in 1917.  The Legion Hall today occupies the same site.  Note the trees indicating a residential area where the Sheldon Munn Hotel would soon be constructed.

Seen on the street's south side is the single story white building which was sometimes known as the skyscraper building because it had five store fronts or stories laid on their sides. More views of Main Street from the same era are found on postcards retrieved from the Municipal Building's 1915 time capsule.