Kleinschmidt Architectural History

John Kleinschmidt was a professor of French at Grinnell College with a passion for local history. This collection features many of the documents and photographs that he compiled about the history of both the Grinnell College campus and the greater Grinnell community.

grinnell:3286
Copy of a photograph of the Bijou Theater, located at 800 Fourth Avenue. The theater was owned by the G. W. Mart family, who also built the Strand Theater. The photograph was taken prior to 1914.
grinnell:3265
Photograph of the house at 817 East Street. The frame house was built in about 1895.
grinnell:3285
Photograph of a "carnivalesque" in the backyard of the Ross residence at 817 Seventh Avenue, taken in the early 1900s. Bicyclists rode around the inner perimeter of the structure, made of wooden slats held erect by guide wires on a concrete slab.
grinnell:3297
Photograph of the Johnson & Wadsworth Drug Store and other Broad Street businesses before the 1889 fire. A tailor shop was located at 825 Broad, and a two-story confectionery at 831 Broad. A delivery wagon for Preston & Proctor Groceries is visible at far right.
grinnell:3318
Photograph of Company K in front of the Preston Opera House at 831 Main Street. Built in 1878, the brick building was modified many times and eventually became a two-story structure.
grinnell:3283
Photograph of the house at 834 Park Street, built in 1883 and owned by George M. Christian. It later served as the Cafe Phoenix and Relish restaurant.
grinnell:3260
Photograph of the frame house at 904 High Street, built in 1894 for Charles R. Morse. When Morse tired of his house at 531 Park Street, he moved uptown and built this mansion.
grinnell:3300
Photographs of 911-913 Main Street.
grinnell:3298
Photograph of 917 Broad Street, which was the Coutts Block, built in 1893. It has housed many businesses including the Varsity Newsstand, Back Alley Deli, Saint's Rest coffee shop, and Bikes to You.
grinnell:3281
Charles F. Craver, owner of Craver & Steele manufacturers, built this large Italianate residence in 1883, after his original home at Seventh and Broad was destroyed by the 1882 cyclone.
grinnell:3295
Photograph of the Strand Theater at 921 Main Street, built in 1916.
grinnell:3291
Photograph taken by Billy Robinson from his monoplane. In this southeast view, Broad Street is on the left. The Armory is at the bottom left corner, with the Cornerstone Building next door, to the east.
grinnell:3313
Aerial photograph, circa 1941, looking northeast from the intersection of Main Street and the railroad toward the intersection of Broad Street and Fourth Avenue.
grinnell:3306
Photograph of the Ames Block, looking south down Main Street from Fourth Avenue to Commercial Street. The photograph was taken sometime after the removal of the third floor of the Preston Opera House, on the west side of Main Street.
grinnell:3305
Photograph of the west side of Broad Street, between Fourth Avenue and Commercial Street, taken after the fire in June 1889.
grinnell:3292
Photograph of a section along Broad Street alley following the cyclone of 1882. The view is northeast from Main Street toward Broad Street. At left, Charles H. Spencer is standing in the rubble of the large garage belonging to his house at 1120 Main Street.
grinnell:3312
Photographs of the corner of Broad Street and Fourth Avenue, before and after the construction of the Louis Sullivan bank.
grinnell:3302
Photograph of Company K troops on the curve of Broad Street to Third Avenue, looking east, taken in 1878.
grinnell:3288
Photograph of the downtown district after the fire in June 1889, which destroyed everything between Broad and Main streets, from the railroad tracks to Fourth Avenue. This view, looking southeast across the rubble to Broad Street and Central Park, shows the temporary huts built by merchants to house the post office, bank, and other businesses.
grinnell:3263
Photograph of the Erastus Snow residence, a Romanesque brick house that was probably built in the 1860s. The house is no longer standing.