[Illustration: The Thomas home
1200 10th Avenue North]
This large and attractive northside residence was for 50 years the home
of Seth Thomas, former Fort Dodge High School principal and later U. S.
Circuit Court of Appeals judge. Located at 1200 10th Ave. N., it was the
home of the Thomas family from the time it was built in 1912 until sold
in 1962 to Dr. Roger E. Drown.
Presently the house is owned and occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Charles L.
Hancock who acquired it in the fall of 1974 from Mr. and Mrs. Don F.
Carney. Carney, owner of Don Carney Used Auto Parts, and his wife
purchased the Thomas home in 1965 and lived there until moving to their
new home at 1227 11th Ave. N.
The two-story house is of frame and stucco construction with full
basement and porches on both the east and west sides. On the first floor
are living room, dining room, kitchen, bedroom and bath, front hall and
curving open stairway to the second floor. The second floor has four
bedrooms, bath and enclosed porch. The downstairs bedroom and full bath
were added some years after the house was built and this addition
included a garage underneath.
The west porch has been converted into a family room and the east porch
is a room for social activities. The 10 upstairs windows on the main
portion of the house have stained glass insets and there are also
stained glass insets in the living and dining room windows.
Judge Thomas, a native of Ohio, was educated in the east and was a
school teacher and principal before coming to Iowa in 1900. In 1902 he
was named principal of the Washington, Iowa, high school and served
there for three years. He came to Fort Dodge in 1905 and was principal
of the high school here until 1909. He studied law during the summer
months at the University of Michigan and received his law degree at Iowa
University in 1910.
Thomas began his practice of law here with Healy & Healy and from 1910
to 1928 was a law partner of M. F. Healy. He was appointed assistant U.
S. district attorney for northern Iowa from 1914 until 1921.
Later he was a law partner of Alan Loth and in 1933 was appointed
solicitor of the U. S. Department of Agriculture in Washington, D. C. He
served there until 1935 when he was appointed judge of the Circuit Court
of Appeals, 8th circuit, with office in Fort Dodge. Thomas was a judge
of this court for 19 years, retiring in 1954. He continued to make his
home in Fort Dodge and died in 1962 at the age of 88.
Judge Thomas was the father of two children—Reynolds B. Thomas, a Fort
Dodge attorney; and Mrs. Franz (Eleanor) Van Alstine of Pocahontas. He
was prominent in legal circles and was president of the Iowa State Bar
Association (1931-1932). He was a member of the Webster County, Iowa and
American Bar Associations and served as president of the Fort Dodge
Chamber of Commerce two years. In 1947 he received special recognition
as one of the 50 prominent living alumni at the 100th anniversary of the
University of Iowa.