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| The centre of the community. |
Ayrshire folk have gone all round the world, leaving their mark. In many far-flung corners of the globe you will often find place names that have an all-too-familiar ring to them. One of the oddest is undoubtedly the "city" of Ayrshire in the Mid-Western US state of Iowa, although "city" is perhaps the wrong word, as the population is only 142 people. At its peak in 1940 it was 391.
The Ayrshire motif is also followed through in the names of several strees, such as Ayr Street, Burns Street, and Allowa Street (Alloway Street?).
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| Ayrshire seen from the air. |
The town was founded after the Des Moines and Fort Dodge Railroad reached the area in October 1882, when a depot was built. By 1883 several businesses had been established and the settlement was incorporated as a "city" on the 20th September 1895.
At one time it had two banks, two grocery stores, a blacksmith shop, a livery stable, a creamery, a hotel, at least two barber shops; Lutheran, Catholic, Methodist and Baptist churches; five gas stations, a grain elevator, two cafes, a locker plant, a pharmacy, a lumber yard, two beer halls and several other businesses. It had both a Catholic and a public high school. The Catholic high school closed in 1947. The lower grades closed in 1968. The public school closed in the spring of 1982. The public school mascot was the Ayrshire Beavers.
The population is 100% White.
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| Ayrshire in its heyday. |
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