Thursday, February 23, 2006


The Mallory Opera Block, located at the north end of the west side of Chariton's square, probably was the grandest privately-owned public building in Chariton's history. It stood from 1873 until January 1904, when it and two adjacent buildings were destroyed in a massive fire. Posted by Picasa

The Union Block, located at the northwest corner of the Chariton square, had nothing to do with the Civil War. Instead, it represented a "union" between Chariton Masonic and I.O.O.F. lodges to construct a building that would house on its top floor their meeting rooms. Smith H. Mallory backed but did not own this building. He moved First National Bank into rooms on the first floor during 1882. This building stood for approximately 100 years until it was demolished and replaced by the architectural abominations that now serve banks on this corner and a block west, site of the old Bates House hotel. Posted by Picasa

Mallory Landmarks: The Opera Block

The Mallory Opera Block, built during 1872, was the first major Mallory project in Chariton.

Occupying a quadruple lot at the north end of the west side of the square purchased by Mallory for $5,000 from Chester W. Cowles on March 13, 1872, the block contained four businesses on its ground floor and offices and club rooms on the second and third floors.

A stair in the middle of the east front served the opera house, located behind rental areas and entered on the second floor. This was the cultural and social center of Chariton for 30 years.

The Opera Block and two adjacent buildings were destroyed during January of 1904 in one of Chariton’s most disastrous fires. Later that year, Jessie (Mallory) Thayer sold the north half of the lot to Horace Larimer and N.B. Hollinger (this building later housed Montgomery & Ward) and the south half to Simon Oppenheimer, who built the double-fronted buiding that still bears his name.

Mallory Landmarks: First National Bank

Smith H. Mallory purchased controlling interest the Chariton banking house of Lyman Cook & Co. during 1870 with partners Edward Ames Temple and Joseph Braden and renamed it First National Bank.

Mallory built it into one of southern Iowa’s largest and most secure banks and moved it during 1882 into the banking rooms of the new Union Block at the northwest corner of the square.

It became the financial center of his universe and after his 1903 death, doomed his legacy.Trusted associate and bank cashier Frank R. Crocker siphoned its funds to cover investment losses and after his 1907 suicide, the bank came crashing down. In the aftermath, the Mallory heirs gave up all their holdings in Lucas County to help cover its losses.

This is the text of the third in a series of five Mallory interpretive panels prepared by Frank D. Myers for The Freight House, restored by the Chariton Arts Council as a public venue and interpretive center for Chariton's railroading heritage.

This is a view from the southeast of the Ilion, constructed on the Mallory estate just north of Chariton during 1878-1880 to a design that probably can be attributed to Des Moines-based architect William Foster. Porches installed during 1896 along the mansion's west and south facades changed its looks substantially. The home was demolished during 1955. Posted by Picasa

Halcyon Days: The Ilion

Mallory dreams and aspirations were expressed in the Ilion, a grand Italianate structure built during 1879-80 on the family’s 1,000-acre estate north of Chariton’s city limits.

Probably designed by Des Moines architect William Foster, who worked extensively in Chariton, its drawing room, parlor, dining room and library were the venue for entertaining on a scale not seen before in southern Iowa.

It was more than just a grand house, however. The lawns around the house were elaborately landscaped, containing one of Iowa’s first golf courses, a small lake to the east of the house, an aviary, a fountain and other features.

North of the house was Brook Farm, one of Iowa’s most progressive and innovative agricultural operations. An orchard of 6-8,000 trees produced apples and other fruit to be marketed across the Midwest. Intensely interested in livestock, Smith was a pioneer in selective livestock breeding and herds of shorthorn cattle, horses and sheep roamed Brook Farm’s acres. At various times a dairy, an egg-laying operation and vast market gardens were developed. Brook Farm produce stocked the passenger trains that passed through Chariton.

The look of the house changed substantially during 1896, when vast porches were built around it’s west and south facedes to facilitate entertaining. Smith Mallory died here during 1903.

The bank crash of 1907 drove Annie and Jessie Mallory from this house during 1909 and the estate was sold to Eikenberry and Busselle, who allowed the mansion to deteriorate. The estate was sold the Otto Brown during 1949, and he undertook substantial restoration.

Upon Brown’s death, however, his heirs decided to demolish the house to clear the way for the housing development that now occupies its grounds. The old house fell during 1955 .

This is the text of the fourth in a series of five Mallory interpretive panels prepared by Frank D. Myers for display in The Freight House, restored by the Chariton Arts Council as a public venue and interpretive center for Chariton's railroading heritage.

Annie L. Mallory and Jessie Mallory Thayer commissioned this magnificent Celtic cross to mark the graves of Smith H. Mallory and his son-in-law, Deming Jarves Tayer, in the Chariton Cemetery. It was erected between their graves, and "Thayer" is inscribed on what then was its north face. The material appears to be the same Colorado red granite used for the exterior of St. Andrews Episcopal Church. During 1920, Jessie had her father's body exhumed and cremated and this monument dismantled and shipped to Greenwood Cemetery in Orlando, Florida, where it was re-erected and Smith's ashes buried beside it. The bodies of Deming Thayer and Louise Mallory Thayer, stillborn daughter of Deming and Jessie, were left undisturbed in the Chariton Cemetery. Posted by Picasa

The Mallory Legacy Fades

Annie and Jessie Mallory continued to live much as they always had at the Ilion following Smith’s death on March 26, 1903.

Not long after, they commissioned a magnificent and towering Celtic cross as his monument and it was placed between Smith’s grave and that of his son-in-law, Deming J. Thayer, in the northwest corner of the Chariton Cemetery, backed by a view into the Chariton River valley. Here, they expected to rest as well.

The 1907 bank crash, however, drove the Mallory women from Chariton. Both the people of Lucas County and federal banking officials expected Annie and Jessie to use their fortune to cover bank losses. They were, after all, the bank’s major shareholders and, in name at least, its principal officers. The Mallory women were unwilling to do this, and the result was a court battle and an unbridgable gulf of anger.

Faced by monumental lawsuits, the Mallory women agreed during 1909 to a $125,000 settlement that included all family assets in Lucas County, including the Ilion and Brook Farm.

They had most of the Ilion’s contents packed and shipped to a new home in Orlando, Florida, where they built new lives.

During 1920, Jessie returned to Chariton, had her father’s body exhumed and cremated and the magnificent monument dismantled and shipped to Florida. Smith Mallory’s ashes were interred alongside his cross in Orlando’s Greenwood Cemetery, and both Annie and Jessie joined him there during 1923.

Smith’s nieces and nephews were the principal heirs of Mallory belongings that had been moved from Chariton to Florida, and his possessions were scattered after Jessie’s death.

In Chariton, his business buildings, his mansion, his church (St. Andrew’s Episcopal) and most other physical reminders of him fell.

Today, the courthouse clock he donated to the people of Lucas County during 1894, a greatly altered business block on the east side of the square and the graves of his son-in-law and stillborn granddaughter in Chariton Cemetery are the principal physical reminders of him.

Still, Lucas County has not forgotten the Mallorys and their golden days. They remain the stuff of dreams and oft-told stories.

Note: This is the text of the fifth and final Mallory interpretive panel created by Frank D. Myers for display in The Freight House at Chariton, a building restored by the Lucas County Arts Council as both a public venue and interpretive center devoted to Chariton's railroading heritage.

Smith H. Mallory donated the clock in the Lucas County Courthouse tower to the people of Lucas County during 1894. It remains as his principal visible legacy in Lucas County. Photo by Frank D. Myers. Posted by Picasa