This buff brick home at 775 Crest Avenue was built in 1919 by the late
L. E. Armstrong, business and industrial leader of Fort Dodge. It was
purchased in 1941 by K. S. Fantle and in 1954 by its present occupant,
C. M. Bodensteiner, president of Fort Dodge By-Products.
The house is 100 feet long, with a red tile roof. There is an
old-fashioned “tea house” on the property and a two-story garage with
living quarters on the second floor.
The home’s first floor has living room, dining room, kitchen, butler’s
pantry, den, four bedrooms and two full and two half baths.
The second floor living quarters have living room, dining room, two
bedrooms, two baths, kitchen and den.
The third floor has two bedrooms and bath and a children’s ballroom.
The house has oak ceiling beams in downstairs rooms and the living room
has oak paneled walls. At the top of the living room walls is a
decorative border of cut velvet originally put in when the house was
built. An oak stairway leads to the second floor and the staircase and
upper floor areas have imported tooled leather wallpaper that was hung
by workmen from Italy. The original grand stairway had a lounge area
halfway between the first and second floors. Furnishings included a
grand piano.
Armstrong began business in Fort Dodge in 1886, establishing the
Plymouth Clothing Store at Central Avenue and Sixth Street. He promoted
the store in a unique way, purchasing what was reported to be the first
auto delivered in Iowa in 1899, a Winton costing $1,000. Hitching a pony
cart to the auto he gave customers and friends a ride from his store
around the City Square and back again.
[Illustration: The L. E. Armstrong Home
775 Crest Avenue]
After purchasing clay and gypsum land in the area, Armstrong established
the Plymouth Gypsum Company in 1903 and the Plymouth Clay Products
Company in 1910. Ten years later he established the Iowana Gypsum
Company. Both were sold in 1922 to the Universal Gypsum Company,
predecessor of the National Gypsum Company now operating here. Armstrong
also organized the Plymouth Processing Mill for soybeans.
Armstrong was president of the Fort Dodge National Bank (now the First
National) from 1924 to 1936. He was interested in promoting Fort Dodge
and the area and organized the Hawkeye Fair & Exposition in 1919 and was
its president. He served as president of the Fort Dodge Chamber of
Commerce from 1916-1919.