The cooperage firm operated by Thompson was located in the vicinity of Fifth Avenue North and Fifth Street and manufactured wooden buttertubs, tanks, cisterns and casks as well as barrels for stucco, apples and oatmeal. Following Thompson’s death the company was operated by members of his family including the late M. T. Thompson.
The Thompson family retained ownership of the house at 1119 6th Ave. N. for some time after Mrs. Thompson’s death. In 1940 it was sold to S. L. Barrett, who for many years was sales manager and later president of the Fort Dodge Laboratories. The Barretts owned the property until it was purchased in 1961 by Anver and Betty Habhab.
The exterior front of the home was remodeled by the Habhabs in 1968 and the large canopy with four columns extending from ground level to the roof line was added. It covers an open patio area. Habhab operates Anver’s Lounge in downtown Fort Dodge and the Rose-A-Rio Restaurant and Lounge in the Crossroads.
THE CARTER HOME
The Carter home
510 So. Twelfth Street
A Fort Dodge industrialist who operated a culvert manufacturing company and an iron and steel mill here more than a half century ago, built this large home at 510 S. 12th St. in 1915.
He was Charles L. Carter, who with a number of other Fort Dodgers organized and operated the Fort Dodge Culvert Company in the vicinity of Sixth Avenue North and Seventh Street. In addition to the south Twelfth Street home he also erected the three-story building at 1018-1020 Central Avenue known in recent years as the Dunsmoor or Dee Building. This building is now owned by Dodger Homes, a partnership of Fort Dodge men including Leo Bevien, William Gibb, Gene Marchi and Richard Koberg.
Carter purchased the building lot for his home in 1914 and the following year erected the home which has a stucco exterior. Originally the house had a large living room that extended across the front interior, a sun room, dining room and kitchen on the first floor. On the second floor were three bedrooms, two sleeping porches, sewing room and bath.
Carter’s Central Avenue building had living quarters on the second and third floors known as the Carter Apartments. The first floor had a large room occupied by various business firms through the years and another room leased out to a motion picture theater. The theater operated under the name of the Majestic, Pokadot and finally the Dodge. The building apartments are now known as the Dee Apartments.