This attractive residence at 1218 5th Ave. N., was for many years the
home of M. F. Healy, one of Fort Dodge’s and Iowa’s most distinguished
attorneys. The home has many unique features, including a round,
towerlike area at one corner that extends from the large front porch
upward to a pointed cupola on the roof.
The three-story house has living room, library, dining room and kitchen
on the first floor. An open stairway leads to the second floor with its
five bedrooms and bath. On the third floor are three additional
bedrooms.
Healy lived in the home from the time it was completed in 1903 until his
death in 1929 at age 66. He and his wife, who was 65 at the time of her
death in 1936, reared a family of six children in the home.
[Illustration: The M. F. Healy home
1218 5th Avenue North]
A native of Lansing, Iowa, Healy came to Fort Dodge with his parents in
1892. He was a graduate of Notre Dame University, attended Harvard
University one year and received his law degree from the University of
Michigan in 1885.
He began law practice in Fort Dodge with pioneer statesman and attorney
John F. Duncombe. Later he was in partnership with his brothers, Thomas
D. Healy and Robert Healy and his son, Thomas M. Healy. Other well-known
attorneys with whom he was associated were A. N. Botsford, D. M.
Kelleher, B. B. Burnquist and Seth Thomas who later was a federal
circuit court judge.
Healy gained statewide and national distinction as an attorney, orator
and political leader. He was active in the Democratic party and attended
nine national Democratic conventions. In 1924 he seconded the nomination
of Al Smith for the presidency. He was in great demand as a speaker and
gave addresses at many public functions and celebrations.
Failing eyesight afflicted Healy in the later years of his life and he
was stricken with blindness in 1916. Despite the handicap he continued
his law practice until his death 13 years later.
The Healy children included four daughters and two sons—Mrs. Ruth Healy
Coughlin, Fort Dodge; Mrs. John (Margaret) Rourke, Providence, R. I.;
Mrs. Carl (Eleanor) Mangelsdorf, Rock Island, Ill.; and Mrs. Joseph
(Kathryn) Pleck, Evanston, Ill.; the Rev. Kerndt Healy, an instructor at
Notre Dame University, and Thomas M. Healy, Fort Dodge, both of whom are
deceased.
The Healy home is now owned by Larry D. Lee, a Fort Dodge Senior High
School math instructor, who acquired it in 1964.