[Illustration: The Merritt home
1119 6th Avenue North]
The large two-story brick home at 1119 6th Ave. N.—with huge columns
supporting a canopy extending across the front of the house—was built in
1914 by a Fort Dodge real estate dealer and insurance representative.
Known for several years as the Merritt home because it was owned by W.
N. Merritt, it later was known as the Faville home, the Thompson home
and the Barrett home. Since 1961 it has been owned and occupied by Mr.
and Mrs. Anver Habhab and family.
The house has four rooms on the first floor—living room, den, dining
room and kitchen; the second floor has four bedrooms and bath and the
attic also has one bedroom. The Merritt family resided in the home from
the time it was built in 1914 until early in 1918 when it was sold to
Fredrick F. Faville, a Fort Dodge attorney who came to the city from
Storm Lake.
Mr. and Mrs. Faville, son Stanton, and daughter, Marion, lived in the
home until 1921 when it was sold to Mrs. Martha Thompson, widow of S. H.
Thompson who owned and operated the Fort Dodge Cooperage Works here.
Faville, a law partner of Robert Healy, was prominent in legal circles
and in 1920 was elected to the Iowa Supreme Court. The Favilles then
moved to Des Moines where their son Stanton, was a well-known attorney
in later years.
The cooperage firm operated by Thompson was located in the vicinity of
Fifth Avenue North and Fifth Street and manufactured wooden buttertubs,
tanks, cisterns and casks as well as barrels for stucco, apples and
oatmeal. Following Thompson’s death the company was operated by members
of his family including the late M. T. Thompson.
The Thompson family retained ownership of the house at 1119 6th Ave. N.
for some time after Mrs. Thompson’s death. In 1940 it was sold to S. L.
Barrett, who for many years was sales manager and later president of the
Fort Dodge Laboratories. The Barretts owned the property until it was
purchased in 1961 by Anver and Betty Habhab.
The exterior front of the home was remodeled by the Habhabs in 1968 and
the large canopy with four columns extending from ground level to the
roof line was added. It covers an open patio area. Habhab operates
Anver’s Lounge in downtown Fort Dodge and the Rose-A-Rio Restaurant and
Lounge in the Crossroads.