The Triangle

From probably before the city was platted, Bridge Street came right through town, headed straight as an arrow due north past Sacred Heart Catholic church on the hill, through the downtown area, across the river at the Little Wolf Lumber Company, past Esche's Mill and Piotter's store and out of town.

The Hotel Ceylon and the Central Hotel marked the center of town, more or less, where Depot Street headed slightly south and west down to the train station, past the school house, the Methodist Episcopal church, St. Paul's Lutheran church, and the Potatoe Warehouses.

Where Depot and Bridge streets met, there was an almost-useless splinter of land wedged firmly into the bottom of main street, the closest thing Manawa had to a town square. We called it The Triangle, although it's identified in this first photo as "The Forks."

This view is looking south down Bridge Street. The photographer seems to be standing about where the Central Hotel was. You can just make out the steeple of Sacred Heart Catholic church at the top of the hill.

The second photo is a shot down Depot Street -- which was apparently known as "Park Avenue" back then. The leafless trees give you a pretty good view of the belltowers at the school house (right) and the Methodist Episcopal church (center distance). The image dates from between 1886, when the telephone came to town, and 1923, when the school house was destroyed by fire.

Today, on about the spot where the house stands in these photos, there are flower gardens, a bandstand, and a couple tall signs displaying the town's civic organizations. On the 1889 plat map, the lot is the property of R. Ayers and has a house on it -- probably the one in this photo.

The third picture is a much closer shot of the triangle although, in this photo, the Ayers house is missing. On a guess, I'd say this picture must date from the 1920's, for three reasons: First, the Ayers house is missing. I thought that might be because this picture was taken before the house went up, but there appears to be a foundation in the middle of the lot. This photo might be taken after the house came down.

Second, the caption says this is the City Park. In the 1970's, there was a bandstand in the middle of the triangle, a cement slab on a foundation made of field stones. It had a cellar you could get into through a short, covered stair at the back. I always wondered why it had a cellar, and now I wonder if that wasn't the cellar of the Ayers house.

Finally, I don't know when the street through town was paved, but I'd say it must have been some time between 1908 (the date on the first photo) and 1923. All the photos I've seen of the school house show that Depot Street was unpaved, and the school burned down in 1923, so this picture shouldn't be much older.