This small post office is open four hours daily to serve the 214 residents of the Wapello County town of Kirkville. Postal service was established in Kirkville, which was named after founder John Kirkpatrick, in September 1849. The community was officially incorporated in December 1883.
The Congregational Church was organized in the Des Moines County community of Danville on June 29, 1839. First services were held in homes, and then schools, before the first dedicated church structure was dedicated in 1847. A second church was constructed at a cost of $3,000 in 1868, while the present facility was constructed in 1920 at a cost of $35,000. Recent changes to the church building include the removal of the bell tower in 1999 and renovation of the sanctuary in 2000.
The Schleswig Public Library was first organized as a study club in 1940, with meetings held in members’ homes. As residents, businesses, and service groups donated books and money, space was made in the city hall facility for a permanent library within a year. In 1966, the Iowa Telephone Company presented the community of Schleswig with a building to use as exclusively as a library. With over 10,000 items in its collection, the Schleswig Public Library continues to operate out of this building today.
Like many counties across the state, Ringgold County in southern Iowa once had nearly a dozen newspapers operating simultaneously. Even some of the county’s smallest communities had a weekly paper: the Shannon City Messenger folded in the 1942 following the editor’s death, the Redding Herald ceased in 1957, and Kellerton’s weekly paper was discontinued in 1962. Currently, just two papers exist in Ringgold County, the Progress out of Diagonal, population 330, and the Record-News from Ringgold’s county seat Mount Ayr.
The pictured building serves as the office for the Mount Ayr Record-News, which can trace its history to the formation of the Ringgold Record newspaper in 1865. The competing Twice-a-Week News dates to 1893, and the Record-News moniker was formed when the two papers merged in 1907. Local businessman Sam Spurrier bought the paper in 1911, which has only changed ownership three times in the last 100 years. Since 1981, H. Alan Smith has been the owner, publisher and editor of the Mount Ayr Record-News, Ringgold County’s most widely circulated newspaper.
When the existing community hall space was deemed not functional in 1926, a petition was filed with the town council to construct a new community center. A special election was held that October and passed overwhelmingly with a vote of 89-22. The large center was designed to feature a dance hall on the main floor, council meeting room on the first floor and jail and storage space in the basement.
The Community Hall was completed for under $6,000 and considered an immediate success, one of the finest ballrooms in the area. The hall has held a number of events over its seventy-five year history including roller skating, movies, social gatherings, weddings, dances, and more. While reconfigured since its initial construction, the New Vienna Community Hall continues to serve the community today.