[Illustration: The Jack Haire home
815 Northwood Avenue]
A native Fort Dodger—Jack Haire—who was in the lumber business here for
45 years, erected this Snell Place home in 1922. It is located at 815
Northwood Ave.
The house is now owned and occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Glenn R. Schnurr who
purchased it in 1960. Schnurr is vice president of the Federal Mortgage
and Investment Company of Fort Dodge. The Schnurrs have five
children—Matt, Sally, Donald, Pat and Tom.
The home has spacious rooms including living room, dining room, library,
kitchen, butler’s pantry, breakfast room and bath on the first floor.
The second floor has five bedrooms, sleeping porch and three baths. A
recreation room is located in the basement. At one time there was a
tennis court in the area just south of the house.
Jack Haire was the son of John Haire, pioneer Fort Dodge businessman.
Born in 1877, he attended local schools and later graduated from the Des
Moines College of Pharmacy. He was a partner with his brother, Will W.
Haire, in the Sackett & Haire Drug Store for 10 years before going into
the lumber business.
In 1909 Jack Haire and George W. Mason, who was a partner in the Mason &
O’Connell Lumber Company, purchased the Chapin Lumber Yard located at
First Avenue North and Sixth Street. The name was changed to the Fort
Dodge Lumber Company and the business operated until 1954 when it was
sold to the Joyce Lumber Company. The Joyce firm continued at the First
Avenue North location for the next five years.
Haire’s two sons joined their father in the lumber business—George in
1931 and John in 1935—and they continued in its active management until
the firm was sold to the Joyce Company. Jack Haire retired from the
lumber business in 1954. In 1962 he died at age 85.
Haire was prominent in state lumber circles and active in Fort Dodge
affairs. He served as a director of the Fort Dodge Serum Company, the
State Bank and the Fort Dodge Telephone Company.
Married in 1907 to Margaret Mason, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George W.
Mason, they were parents of three sons—George and John, both of Fort
Dodge; and Dr. Mason Haire, Boston, Mass.