On Friday, September 29, 2008, the U.S. Postal Service placed the Bristow Post Office on emergency suspension. The Butler County community home to 202 residents received Wednesday that week after the postmaster moved to another job and a “lack of qualified and available personnel” could fill the vacancy. Residents had the option of erecting a rural mailbox in front of their homes or picking up mail from metal “cluster boxes” that were placed outside of the Bristow Community Center, which previously shared the building with the now-closed post office.
Service was originally established in Bristow on July 29, 1857 under the name Boylan’s Grove. The Bristow name was assigned May 16, 1876; the post office was officially discontinued in March 2010.
The history of the United Methodist Church in the Benton County town of Mt. Auburn can be traced to 1863, when revival meetings were conducted by Rev. Faucet in the local schoolhouse. The school served as a meeting place for nearly a decade before articles of incorporation were formalized for the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Mt. Auburn in 1872 with the first church built the following year.
The first church was destroyed by tornado in 1888, so another church was constructed and dedicated in 1889. As the congregation grew, more space was required, so the second church was torn down to make way for a new building. The cornerstone was laid Sunday, October 12, 1913, with a dedication ceremony helped May 5, 1914. Constructed at a cost of $13,100, the church was built with donated labor and some materials from the prior church building. The brick building features impressive stained glass windows, given as gifts and memorials at the time of church construction.
The Mt. Auburn United Methodist Church has approximately 65 members with an average weekly attendance around 20. Services are held weekly at 10:00 a.m.
A small circulating library was first organized in the Benton County community of Keystone in the winter of 1914, but was quickly discontinued as usage dropped over the summer months. Several short-lived libraries existed before the current library was established in the basement of the Legion Hall in 1958.
The local Literary Club began an annual bazaar to support the library, and in 1967, the town council began to provide monetary support to the library organization. In 1975, residents Oscar and Alvena Schroeder purchased a cement block building on Main Street that had previously been used as a Laundromat. They donated the building to the town for use as a library. They also funded a large rear addition to the library in 1981; the library is now named in their honor.
After graduating from the Chicago Veterinary School in March 1912, Dr. C.F. McDonald moved to Lorimor to start his practice. The pictured infirmiary building was constructed in 1915, which Dr. McDonald operated until 1954. At that time, it was taken over by Dr. B.L. Wright; the ivy-covered brick building is now privately owned.
A large crowd was on hand for the September 1923 dedication of the Pocahontas County Courthouse. The ceremony featured a handful of speakers along with music performances from the Pocahontas, Rolfe, Laurens and Havelock bands. A number of festivities followed the formal dedication, including a horseshoe tournament, boxing match, and opera house dance.
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