[Illustration: The Jon-Mar home
1631 No. Twenty-second Street]
The John J. Brady Sr. home—known for many years as “Jon-Mar”—was
constructed in 1935 at 1631 N. 22nd St. The elegant brick residence of
unusual architectural design is located on a two-acre tract of ground.
Brady, a nationally-known trucking magnate who built up a trucking
operation from a small Fort Dodge drayline to a $30,000,000 annual
business, purchased 40 acres of farm land in 1934 just outside the
northeast city limits. When the tract was platted he retained eight
acres for the house site, but much later six of these acres were laid
out and sold as building lots.
The home is now owned by David A. Opheim, Fort Dodge attorney, and his
wife, Mary Ellen, who acquired it in 1969 from Joe Bryant. Earlier it
was owned by George Schnurr who purchased it from Brady in 1959. The
Opheims reside in the home with their children, Kristen and Matthew.
The present room arrangement of the home includes a large first floor
living room with a circular stairway to the second floor that is
enclosed in a turret or tower-like portion of the house with a pointed
roof. The stairway has wrought iron white spindles and a large curved
wood railing painted aqua blue.
Other downstairs rooms are sunporch, dining room, family room, kitchen
and half bath. The second floor has five bedrooms and two baths.
Brady was born in 1893 on a farm northwest of Fort Dodge and moved to
the city with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. John Brady, when five years old.
The father bought and sold draft horses for eastern markets. When a Fort
Dodge man was unable to pay for horses used in a dray line they were
repossessed and Brady’s father put the son into the draying business.
When Brady’s father died in 1911 John Brady took over the operations and
launched the Brady Moving & Storage Company and later the Brady
Motorfrate Company which became one of the major trucking empires in the
nation. Brady was chairman of the board and chief executive officer of
the companies until 1969 when he became honorary chairman of the board
until the huge trucking operations were sold. The Brady Moving & Storage
Company was sold in 1968 to John Duvall and John Marrs who now operate
the business. The Brady Motorfrate Company was sold in 1973 to the Smith
Transfer Company of Staunton, Va. Brady is now president and general
manager of the Brady Realty Company which maintains ownership of all its
trucking terminals.
Active in trucking operations Brady was a member of state and national
organizations and in 1965 was honored by the Iowa Motor Truck
Association for 55 years in the transportation industry.
Brady and his first wife, Marguerite Hanrahan of Webster City, were
parents of two sons and a daughter—John J. Brady Jr., Robert and Louise.
Following the death of his wife, Marguerite, in 1947, Brady married
Gertrude Lamneck of New York City in 1956. She died here in 1969. Brady
now resides at 1132 Summit Ave., Snell Place.