deer were shot from its door. The second store was on the northwest corner of Onondaga and Douglass Streets, built by S. O. Osborne, a druggist, in 1866, and the third was on the opposite corner, erected about the same time by Samuel Miller for a hardware store. Capt. K. W. Brown soon built a grocery, and Starr & Brenneman built another drug store on the former site of the Nichols Livery Stable-all on Onondaga Street, which has ever since held the business. Gale & Son had a grocery on the site of the post-office. W. G. Wright was the first permanent blacksmith, and Dr. Carr the first permanent physician. The first teacher was Henry May. About this time Mr. Hunnycut opened a meat-market, and Hoggatt & Erwin built a grain-house on the site of the present elevator. Kingsbury kept a boarding house, but very soon Mr. Sherwood built the present West House and Mr. Rainbolt opened a hotel just east of the depot. Early in the seventies the first brick building was erected - the present Goble's harness shop.
The center of business, very early, was determined about the corner of Douglass and Onondaga Streets, chiefly in the two blocks on each side of Douglass, which gradually built up with neat frame structures to meet the growing demands of trade, for it must be remembered that in 1864, when the railway reached Ames, it was the farthest western railway terminus in Iowa. It became the source of College Farm supplies too. Since then, along with continuous improvement, there has been a steady transformation of frame into brick. This has not been entirely caused by fires, for, although Ames has had numerous isolated fires, there has been none so extensive as in Nevada, which compelled large rebuilding, and provoked to the use of brick. It is to be hoped that the buildings burned, from time to time, east of Douglass Street, may soon be replaced to satisfy the need for more business room.
The present status of Ames, as to its business vitality or the most prominent features of it, is in rather striking contrast to many other towns in Story County. General merchandise, probably, leads everything else. Stock shipment would probably come next, while banking would intervene between that and the grain trade. At times these have taken different relations. Probably manufactures, including mill, wagons, creamery, furniture and windmills, would come next, while the egg, butter and poultry trade would be next. The proximity of the college is a feature in Ames' business that ought to be mentioned next, and the railway crossing, which makes Ames an advantageous home for commercial travelers, renders also the hotel and restaurant business not far behind the preceding lines. Horse importation and culture should certainly come next, and be followed, probably, by the loan and real estate business. These are the essential features of her business, and other lines are more or less dependent on them, and are matters of course. Ames and Nevada lead the county in professional men, the latter having the largest number of legal, and the former probably the largest number of other professions.
In manufactures Ames has some to boast. The Wright & Childs wagon shops in the early seventies, and those of William Barnes in the early eighties, with the grist-mill, about covers the list. The Ames flour-mills, elevators, repair shops, wind-mill factory, and a few of this kind, complete the list. Ames' shipments for the year ending June 30, 1890, are: 205 cars grain, 113 stock, 23 general merchandise, and 1,008,055 pounds way freight, with total charges of $14,141.81; while receipts for the same time were 238 cars general merchandise, 65 lumber, and 2,614,565 pounds way freight, at $12,517.-