FOR SALE: Historic Brick Home on Ten Acres in Southern Iowa

FOR SALE: Historic Brick Home in Southern Iowa - $129,900

2008-12-29T10:11:00.000-08:00

A three-bedroom, three-bath house just 45 minutes south of Des Moines, Iowa, this fully-renovated 1880 brick home is for sale. The perfect place to escape the city life and relax in the countryside, the property includes ten acres of rolling farm land and a quarter-acre pond.

Southern Iowa is quickly becoming one of the Midwest's most popular fishing and game areas with many nature preserves and open countryside. The home sits on paved road just 3/4-mile from the interstate (I-35) at Exit 22. Going west, the road becomes gravel and leads to several hunting reserve areas.

Check out the photos and, if interested, contact the listing agent:

Nancy Johnson
nancyjhomes@yahoo.com
515-710-0474
Specialist in Acreages & Horse Properties
http://www.centraliowaacreages.com/

RE/MAX West Realty, Inc.
515-987-7552
204 Hwy 6, Waukee, IA 50263
Licensed to sell real estate in Iowa

Rural Life in an Elegant Setting

2008-10-01T18:17:00.000-07:00

THIS historic brick building was built in 1880 and once served as a stage stop for the mail carriers who rode ponies across southern Iowa from Kansas City, Missouri to Omaha, Nebraska. It is also reputed to have been a hideout for the liquor runners who were always one step ahead of the temperance movement's organizations. This group of citizens' anti-liquor work led to Prohibition and bathtub gin.

The closest town, which is two miles east and on the other side of the interstate highway, is like many rural Iowa towns, just a quiet bedroom community. It still has its own post office and community center, but the locals gather at either at the casino just 11 miles north or at small neighboring taverns that give the area character.

Set on ten acres of rolling farm land, the house is surrounded by porches on all four sides, with three connecting to include a private garden area, a large south-facing deck, and an enclosed hot tub area. The front porch faces north and faces a breathless view of open farm land.

The East Porch is enclosed with a privacy fence and two gates. Inside, this gravel yard has a hot tub and space for a pool. The gravel driveway leads up from the road and turns into a u-shaped walk and back to a second gravel driveway on the west side of the house.

The West Porch faces a small fenced garden area with bird houses and feeders. Hummingbirds, goldfinches, bluebirds, and butterflies brighten your morning coffee time.

The South Deck faces the acreage including a walnut grove and the start of a vine garden area in the shade of the trees. In the distance, the stocked pond can be seen, too!

Welcome to the StageStop!

2007-11-08T13:33:00.000-08:00

IT’S a well-known fact that Americans are over-worked and under-rested. We have driven ourselves to the brink of exhaustion with our frantic schedules and determination to do everything and do it well.

But there comes a time when nothing but the peace and tranquility of a day in the country can take our minds off the constant demands of our technological world. There is something about a calm country setting, the span of open fields all around us, the distant creak of an abandoned windmill, and even the sound of birds singing in the trees, that can put us back in touch with ourselves, our loved ones, and the beauty of the natural world around us.

From the times of medieval Europe, the families who could afford to do so took their holidays at country homes where the noise of the city, the parade of guests, and the business of running a household could be forgotten for a short while.

Today’s couples often seek respite in the form of week-long vacations to Hawaii or Las Vegas. But as everyone knows, many of us return from such vacations more exhausted than when we left home! How many times have you heard someone say, “I need a vacation to recover from my vacation!”?

Now there is a solution for when you must escape, even if only for the weekend, a place where you can forget all your worries and responsibilities, where you can sleep with the windows open and listen to the hoot owl and the crickets sing your good night song. Here at the StageStop, you can once again take in the vast night sky and its million and one stars, the bright moon, the sunrise and the sunset, all the more vivid in the absence of city lights.

This country escape is available to you, just one hour south of Des Moines and two hours north of Kansas City. The sense of relief is tangible even as you head down the interstate toward open country.

Finding peace in a quiet place

2007-11-08T12:21:00.000-08:00

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front

only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn

what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die,

discover that I had not lived. - Henry David Thoreau

The Downstairs

2007-11-07T13:30:00.000-08:00

The Upstairs

2007-11-07T12:27:00.000-08:00

Coming soon!

Not the same place it used to be

2007-11-06T12:47:00.000-08:00

WHEN the property was first acquired by the proprietor in 2005, it appeared to be beyond hope and many of the locals expected to see it razed.

The owner's first task was to remove all of the existing windows and doors, most of which were broken and falling apart. New insulated doors and windows were installed throughout the house before the first winter.

Before the second winter, every wall and ceiling had been either repaired or replaced and insulation was finally added to the attic and walls.

Before the third winter, a new heat ducting system was installed, a third bathroom intalled upstairs and decks and porches were installed in the style of the period.

TODAY, the first floor includes a large sitting room/parlor, a bedroom, two baths, a large eat-in kitchen, a back porch (for chest freezer or pantry), and four exit doors: east, west, south, and north. The living room is set up for conversation and family entertainment, the bedroom is decorated in a cozy Old West-style with embroidered and beaded drapes and a double-bed, and is connected to a modern bathroom with a stall shower and stained glass windows.

In the summer, a large wading pool can be set up next to the hot tub… all in complete privacy.

ONE aspect of the house that has been a consistent pleasure is the scenery. The sunsets, sunrises, snow scenes, and even ice storms give the house its own special charm that only be appreciated by those who take the time to sit and enjoy them.

The Old Davis Family

2007-11-06T12:36:00.001-08:00

For many years, the StageStop was known as “The Old Davis Place” after the Davis family who farmed and raised sheep on the property until the last member of the family died.

Leona Davis, seen in the school photo here (top left) lived in the house until just before her death in 1977 at which time she was moved to a care center in Leon. The three children, which included Old Carl, a colorful character who carried a pistol on a shoestring around his neck, and his two sisters, Leona and Louann, never married and lived in the house without indoor plumbing or a traditional furnace. The house was heated entirely by several wood stoves, all of which were removed by later owners.

F.M. Thompson, family man, upstanding citizen, homeowner? Who built the StageStop?

2007-11-06T12:28:00.000-08:00

One of the original owners of the land where the Stage Stop now sits was F.M. Thompson.

Because of the many battles between the cities of Leon and Decatur over the location of the county seat, the courthouse was destroyed by vandals several times over the years and all the original records prior to 1890 were lost. Much of what we know today about the house is based on local lore and has yet to be documented adequately to place the building on the National Historic Register. We do know that F.M. Thompson was a prominent member of the community and lived in the exact same plat of land where the house has been since the 1870s.

“F. M. THOMPSON, farmer and stock-raiser, resides on section 13, Long Creek Township, where he owns 307 acres of land. He was born in Macoupin County, Illinois, August 9, 1830, a son of Andrew and Sarah (Woodring) Thompson. His father came from Illinois to Iowa in 1854, where he remained six years, then returned to Illinois, and remained another six years, thence to Dakota for the same length of time, then again to Decatur County, and eight years later went to Harrison County, Iowa, where he still resides, at the advanced age of seventy-three years.

F. M. Thompson, when seventeen years old, was bound to a farmer in Morgan County, Illinois, remaining with said farmer until of age, and was to have two suits of clothes and $100 for his labor, also sixteen months of schooling. He received the $100, but only one suit of clothes and about twelve months of schooling, scattered through the four years, going to school in bad weather and when there was no work to do on the farm. He was married in his native State, remaining there until 1859, then came to Decatur County, Iowa, and settled near his present home. He rented land two years, and then made a purchase of some land and entered vigorously upon the work of improving the same.

When he came to Decatur County his objective point was Kansas, but running short of money he was compelled to stop here and make a crop, and doing well he concluded to remain. He was married in Marion County, Illinois, to N. L. McDaniel, daughter of Eli and Mary McDaniel, of Scotch-Irish ancestry. She was born in Sangamon County, Illinois, in 1836. The following are their children – Henry A., Francis E., William D. and John T. Mary and two infants are deceased. Henry, the eldest son, married Eliza Devare, and their children are – Thomas L., Floyd, Bessie and Harry R. John T. married Lucinda Benefield, and has one child, Loraine. The rest of the children are still single.

F. M. Thompson has held school offices and most of the other offices of the township. He enlisted in the late war, in 1864, in Company L, Third Iowa Cavalry, and served a little over one year. He was mustered out at Memphis, Tennessee. F. M. Thompson is a self-made man. He had nothing when he commenced for himself, but by hard labor and good management has accumulated a competency. Politically he is a Republican. Post office, Van Wert."

From the "Biographical and Historical Record of Ringgold and Decatur Counties, Iowa," (Lewis Publishing Company (1887), p. 644. Submitted to the Decatur County GenWeb site by Christy Jay; abbreviated from its original form.

What to do

2007-11-06T11:58:00.000-08:00

DEER and opossums, coyotes and even fox have been seen wandering the StageStop grounds and a wide variety of birds consider the peaceful acreage home. Depending on the time of year, you will see hummingbirds, blue jays, sparrows, woodpeckers, geese, cardinals, and goldfinches, the Iowa state bird.

While wandering the 10-acre spread in romantic solitude might sound like fun to some, others will prefer fishing the 1/4-acre pond or taking the binoculars out for a nature walk. Others may prefer to take a horseback ride in the back country hosted by a local horseman and winemaker who can entice tired riders back to his barn with a variety of craft wines made from local fruits including chokecherry, pear, apple, wild plum, and wild berry.

For those who long for more action, the flashing lights of the local casino may prove more interesting. Osceola hosts one of the nicest casinos in the Midwest. Locals refer to the casino as “the boat” because it is actually a large steamboat moored in a manmade lake where fishermen can be seen casting their lines during the spring and summer.

Locally, there are lakes, parks, and antique areas for shopping. For those who enjoy an evening out, there are local pubs and dance events in Osceola along with a variety of local entertainment options.

History of the StageStop ... colorful characters

2007-11-06T11:53:00.000-08:00

DID you know that stage coaches travelled across the U.S. through Iowa from St Louis until 1900s, long after the trains came to the Midwest?

Travelling across the state was still quite dangerous in those days, with famous villains including Jesse James and Wild Bill Hickock, robbing banks, trains, and the stage coaches. Instructions for what to do in the event of a hold-up were posted in each stagecoach. Though it is likely most riders just gave up whatever they had.

The stage stops were designed as a resting places for both horses and travelers, but more for the horses who were often exchanged for fresh teams at stops where arrangements were made in advance with the local proprietors.

Guests were probably rare at the StageStop, due to the size of the house, but several outbuildings in old photographs suggest that horses were kept on the premises. The most remembered owner of the house by today’s residents of Van Wert remember only that sheep were raised on the land and surrounding the house. No outbuildings remain to tell the story, though.

The architecture is the single most influential factor in determining the age of the house with its 18-inch thick brick walls — plaster covered inside most of the rooms but bare in others.
The stairs leading to the owner’s quarters are steeper than contemporary homes but otherwise, the house has been modernized to include nearly all of the modern conveniences we consider essential.

However, the original owners lived more simply. In fact, indoor plumbing was only introduced in the 1970s when the house was already 100 years old!

The History of Decatur County

2007-11-06T11:48:00.001-08:00

DECATUR county lies on the south line of the state of Iowa and in the fifth tier east of the Missouri River. It encompasses an area of 534 square miles and was established in January, 1846. The county was named for Commodore Stephen Decatur, a naval officer in the War of 1812.

The first settlers were William Hamilton, Reuben and James Hatfield, Alfred Stanley, John McDaniel, John E. Logan, and Allen Scott. The state was quite wild and uninhabited between 1838-1840 when the men arrived and they settled in thinking that they were in Missouri! Once they realized that they were in Iowa, they released their slaves and proceeded to raise large families instead. Slavery had been outlawed in Iowa by then.

The county was organized on April 1, 1850 by the election of the following officers: Josiah Morgan, William Hamilton and Asa Burrill, commissioners; Henry B. Norton, clerk; J. J. Stanley, sheriff. By July, 1851, the county-seat was established in a place known as Decatur. Then they surveyed the land, platted it, and sold lots in August, 1851.

A log court-house was built in October but by 1853 the county-seat was changed to what some people believed was a more central location. The new town was laid out and named Independence and there a new courthouse was built, this time of brick. The first house was built by Thomas East, a log cabin, and the second was built by Judge S. C. Thompson. I.N. Clark opened the first store in September, 1853., and the first newspaper was established in 1855 by P. H. and George Binkley.

Taken from http://iagenweb.org/history/hoi/HOI3Counties1.html