A Fort Dodge attorney, who practiced law here for a number of years and
later was named a federal judge in Minnesota, erected this home on north
Seventeenth Street in 1915. He was Matthew M. Joyce, who lived here from
1910 until 1918. He then moved to Minneapolis where he was attorney for
the M. & St. L. Railroad for 14 years before being appointed to a
judgeship.
The two-story house with stained brown siding and white trim is located
at 417 N. 17th St. It has changed ownership a number of times and is
presently owned by Edwin K. Bradley, who acquired it in 1968. Mr. and
Mrs. Bradley and their sons, Mike, Mark, and Matthew, now reside in the
house which has the following room arrangement: first floor—entryway,
living room, dining room, kitchen, half bath, solarium and screened-in
brick porch; second floor—four bedrooms, sun porch and two baths. There
is also an attic study room. Bradley is laboratory supervisor at Trinity
East Hospital and assistant laboratory supervisor at Trinity West.
Joyce was born in Emmetsburg in 1877. After completing elementary and
high school education he enrolled at the University of Michigan and
graduated from law school in 1899. He began the practice of law in
Missoula, Mont., with Edward C. Mulroney, a native of Fort Dodge. In
1910 he came to Fort Dodge and lived at various places before building
the North Seventeenth Street home.
During his years in Fort Dodge Joyce practiced law with B. J. Price and
B. B. Burnquist for eight years and then moved to Minneapolis to accept
the M. & St. L. legal post. In 1932 Joyce was appointed by President
Herbert Hoover as a judge of the Circuit Court of Appeals. After 17
years as a jurist he retired in 1949. He died in Minneapolis in 1956 at
age 79. Mrs. Joyce died in 1962. Joyce was a nephew of M. F. Healy, T.
D. Healy and Robert Healy, widely-known Fort Dodge attorneys.
[Illustration: The Joyce home
417 No. Seventeenth Street]
On moving to Minneapolis Joyce sold the north Seventeenth Street home to
W. C. Woodward of the Fort Dodge Grocery Company. Later it was owned by
Dr. and Mrs. E. F. Beeh, Mr. and Mrs. B. J. Price, Chris Kulild, Eugene
Leachman, Robert L. Mitchell and Ralph Humphreys.