This home was built by the prominent Ambler family

With the cooperation of the Southeast Iowa Union/Mt. Pleasant News, The Mt. Pleasant Historic Preservation Commission will be publishing, every week or two, peeks at some of the featured homes in the 1909 book, Mt. Pleasant Beautiful.

In the series, the 1909 picture will be contrasted with one of recent vintage. The Commission has been collecting information for the eventual issuance of a new book updating the information on the still standing homes from the 1909 publication.

You can test your knowledge of historic Mt. Pleasant with this column. The identity of the featured home will be published with the next featured home. The last featured home was the Myers House, 400 East Monroe St.

This week we feature one of several houses built by a member of the prominent Ambler family. Harry Ambler was a lawyer as were several other family members. His uncle was Henry Ambler, builder, with partner Edward Penn, of the Union Block on the Northside of the square and the Ambler House on Broadway, a home we featured in the very first installment of this series.

Harry was born in 1862 in Mt. Pleasant and was married to Maud Roper from Chicago.

The featured house was sold in 1905 and the Amblers built another house on an adjacent lot. They had previously lived on South Main Street and his widowed mother lived across from the new location. Just two years later, the Amblers moved to Burlington where he continued to practice law and deal in real estate for the next 27 years.

However, in 1931, the couple was involved in a vehicle accident in Aurora, Illinois on their way to Chicago. Apparently making light of Harry’s injuries, they continued on to Chicago by train and completed their scheduled business there.

Returning to Burlington, it was then discovered that Harry had broken two vertebrae in the accident and he subsequently spent six weeks in the hospital. In October of 1934, he took his own life by inhaling illuminating gas in the kitchen of a club to which he belonged. The cause of this was thought to be the result of his poor health from the earlier accident. His widow continued to live in Burlington until her death in 1946.

The 1905 sale of the house was to Frederic Helphrey, a successful farmer and Civil War veteran from north of town who retired from farming to live a life of leisure in town. His wife, with whom he had six children had died in 1899. His daughter Grace is said to have given up her career plans to look after her feather and younger sister Jesse.

Frederic died in 1921 and the two unmarried daughters continued to live in the house for the rest of their lives. At some point they rented out an apartment in the house.

The last daughter, Jessie died in 1948 at age 65. She and Grace, who passed in 1928, were popular in town, and active in P.E.O. and other organizations. Jessie achieved a reputation as a photographer and writer. The two girls spent at least one summer working in Yellowstone National Park.

Jessie operated North Side Studio on the square for several years, selling photographic equipment and supplies and developing film for Mount Pleasant residents.