[Illustration: The Larrabee home
1222 6th Avenue South]
The son of an early-day governor of Iowa—Charles Larrabee Sr. and his
family—occupied this residence at 1222 6th Ave. S. for many years.
Charles Larrabee was one of the seven children of Gov. William Larrabee,
Iowa’s chief executive from 1886 through 1889. Gov. Larrabee was born in
Ledyard, Conn., in 1832 and came to Iowa in 1853, settling at Clermont
in Fayette County. His home—Montauk—is now a historical museum there.
Interested in farming he began purchasing land in the northeastern part
of Iowa and soon became one of the largest land owners in the state. In
1867 Larrabee was elected to the Iowa Senate and served for 18 years. He
was elected governor in 1885 and served four years.
Two of Gov. Larrabee’s children became residents of Fort Dodge—Charles
and Frederic. Charles was a land owner, banker and capitalist. Frederic
was also a land owner and a purebred livestock raiser specializing in
Brown Swiss cattle which won many awards. He also was a state senator
from this district.
The Larrabee home here was erected in 1910. The two-story frame house
has a large open front porch with heavy supporting pillars. Much of the
interior woodwork is solid walnut. The house was owned by the Larrabees
until 1944. Since then it has changed hands several times and presently
is owned by Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Heller Sr. Heller is in the mechanical
department at the Hormel plant here and Mrs. Heller is a licensed
realtor.
The house now has two apartments. The Hellers and their family occupy
the apartment in the main part of the home and the other is rented out.
The Hellers have seven children. They are: twins, Dr. Joseph Heller Jr.,
a pediatrician in Dubuque and Michael, director of marketing for Emerson
Electric in Honeoye Falls, N. Y.; Thomas, manager of controls for United
Air Lines in San Francisco, Calif.; Robert, a computer programmer and
analyst with Lockheed Aircraft in Sunnyvale, Calif.; and David, student
at St. Edmond High School; daughters, Diane, married to Richard
McCarville of Fort Dodge; and, Elizabeth, student at Iowa Central.
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Larrabee Sr. were parents of two sons and a
daughter. They are: Charles Jr., a retired Pan American Airlines
official in Coral Gables, Fla.; Frederic, a law professor in Nashville,
Tenn.; and Mrs. Lawrence Heileman, the former Anne Larrabee, in
Bridgeport, Conn. The elder Larrabees are now deceased.