A
businessman by the name of Horace Hoxie was active in Algona at the end of the
19th century. For some
unknown reason, his name has always intrigued me. I knew that there was a “Hoxie-Ferguson
Block” downtown but didn’t know much about it. When I saw that his home at 620 East McGregor Street is featured in "Picturesque Algona," I decided to see what I could find out about it and him. I was disappointed to find very little about his house other than it appears to have been built sometime after 1887, but Hoxie himself was interesting enough to merit a post.
HORACE
HOXIE
Hoxie’s
ancestors had come over from Wales in 1650 and settled in Providence, Rhode
Island, so his family had been in America for almost two hundred years before
his birth in Griswold, Connecticut, June 15, 1835. In 1859 he went west and spent two years
traveling in Kentucky and Tennessee as a book salesman for a publishing
house. Tired of the road, two years
later he settled in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where he met a pretty young lady by
the name of Martha J. Slagle.
Martha
was a native of Indiana having been born in Whitley County July 31, 1844. The two were married at Fort Wayne, Indiana,
on September 29, 1864. One child, a
daughter named Bertha, would bless the union.
MOVE
TO ALGONA
The
young family moved to Algona in 1870 where Horace opened an insurance and loan
office. He was an astute businessman and
gradually began buying and building houses which he rented to others. His insurance business was a great success
with testimonials of satisfied customers printed in the newspaper. He did have a series of partners over the
years that included A. A. Brunson, A. Herman and C. E. Calkins.
Described
as a “rock ribbed Democrat,” Hoxie was active in local politics. In 1888 he ran for the position of Kossuth
County Recorder but was defeated by C. D. Creed when Republicans swept the
election. It does not appear that he
ever again ran for office but remained a faithful Democrat the rest of his
life.
AT
HOME ON MCGREGOR STREET
The
Hoxies lived in a home on McGregor Street which they sold in 1887. According to news reports at the time of the
sale, Hoxie moved into one of his rental homes with the intention of building a
new residence which was to be located on the same street. My intuition strongly suggests that the house
at 620 East McGregor was the new residence that he constructed, but alas there
do not appear to be any records to support that belief. The house is itself is gone now and an
apartment house built farther back on the lot has taken its
place on the site.
Nonetheless,
the Hoxies moved into the 620 East McGregor Street house at some point before
“Picturesque Algona” was published in 1900.
Tall and stately, the house was likely the site of daughter Bertha’s
wedding to J. O. “Ort” Reaser of Knoxville, Iowa, on Sunday, January 27, 1889. The two had met several years earlier when
Bertha had attended the wedding of a friend in Knoxville and had kept in touch
even while Ort worked for two years as assistant foreman of one of the daily
papers in San Diego, California. According
to the news story published in the Upper Des Moines following their nuptials,
“The bride was dressed handsomely in cream-white, and carried a large bouquet
of white roses; the groom in a suit of plain black.” Many well-known citizens attended the wedding
including Mr. and Mrs. B. F. Reed, Mrs. Stacy, Dr. L.K. Garfield and Hoxie’s
political opponent, C. D. Creed and his wife.
Reaser
joined his father-in-law in business immediately following the wedding. However, the arrangement was short-lived as
by October of 1891 when the Reasers’ first child was born, the young couple
were residing in Knoxville.
HOXIE-FERGUSON
BLOCK
That
same year Horace became interested in constructing a business building on State
Street. Joining forces with William K.
Ferguson, the two made plans for a double front, two story brick building designed
by a Mr. Carter. Construction began in
early 1892 as soon as the frost was out of the ground. Made of pressed brick and stone with terra
cotta ornaments, dark mortar was used to enhance the appearance. A half circle window with panes of various color glass was nestled in the top of the large brick arch in the center of the building. With two storefronts below and multiple
offices on the second floor, the building was completed at an approximate cost
of $7,000.
The
building was an attractive addition to State Street and was soon filled with
Jas. Taylor merchandise and millinery shop in suite 105 and Langdon &
Hudson Groceries and Crockery in suite 107 on the main level, with Hoxie’s insurance
and loan office upstairs along with Sullivan & McMahon, attorneys at law,
and H. C. Devereaux, D.D.S. The building
has survived and been the location of many businesses through the years. It currently houses apartments upstairs and
the east door front of Brown’s Shoe Fit at 105 East State Street and Computer
Systems at 107.
THE
END COMES FOR THE HOXIES
Horace’s
health began to fail during that last decade of his life. He became dangerously ill in 1892 during the
construction of the Hoxie-Ferguson building. He was able to recover to the
point that he continued to be actively engaged in the sale of insurance and
making loans, but he never returned to good health. Before the start of winter in 1900, he and
Martha rented their home and moved to the Thorington Hotel as he did not feel
strong enough to travel from his house to his business downtown. He contracted a case of the “grip” and was
too weak to fight it off. He died there
on March 20, 1901 with his wife by his side.
His obituary stated that “the more intimate a person became with him the
better he liked him. He was genial and
possessed a store of rich, quiet wit.”
His
funeral was conducted by the Masons at the hotel. The parlors were filled with friends gathered
to pay their respects. He was buried at
Riverview cemetery.
Following
Horace’s passing, Martha, whose health was so delicate that she was unable to
attend his services, moved to Knoxville to live with her daughter and
family. She did become quite ill with
cancer and was placed in the Iowa Sanitarium in Des Moines where it was said
her suffering was intense. She died
March 19, 1903 and was brought back to Algona by train two days later. Her body was taken directly from the train to
the cemetery where a large number of friends waited and Rev. O.H. Holmes of the
Congregational Church conducted services for the quiet, gentle woman. It was exactly two years to the day after
Horace was buried.
Until
next time,
Kossuth
County History Buff
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