The Dover Museum Plans to Expand

Since its inception, the Dover Museum family has looked longingly to the west at the building that is the natural extension of the museum. This spring, the Dover Board was able to purchase the two-story former locker plant building. The newly purchased building looks like the museum’s twin.

Recently, Tom Ritchey, was asked to put some of his memories to paper concerning this newest acquisition. Tom has lived in New London all of his life, 87 years to be exact, with his wife Donna. Together they raised their three daughters, Lisa, Julie, and Amy in New London and the girls all graduated from New London High School as did Tom. Tom is, as we say, a “lifer.”

Tom’s reminisces turn toward the story of the meat locker and Mr. Holland as he shares his memories:

“In 1939, Willis Holland opened the first locker plant in Henry County. It was and is located in the 200 block of West Main. It was in operation until his death in 1952.

“In the summer of 1951, Mr. Holland hired me part-time to do odd jobs at the plant. At this time, my main responsibility was to clean lockers of excess ice that would accumulate in them over time.”

“I would put on my winter coat and go to work. The size of the lockers varied, but the majority were about two-feet square. I would scrape until clean, gather up the loose ice, and dump it just outside the front door of the building. The weather had be really hot to fully melt the ice pile that resulted.”

The museum has freezer boxes, from when this building was a locker plant, that will be on display.

Tom continues, “The office for the business was located just inside the front door. It was before you entered the cold storage room. It contained the usual office furniture, but it also contained a large glass front freezer full of meat for sale.

“I remember that Mr. Holland smoked cigars. They were well-chewed and hanging just at the right side of his mouth. The room always held that strong cigar smell.”

“I was 14 when I worked there. One day a customer, Mr. Holland, and myself were in the office when Mr. Holland had some sort of an attack. He bent over in his chair and struggled to breathe. His face turned red and he broke in a sweat. Of course, there was no 911 to call. But I didn’t know what was going on anyway.

“It’s strange but I don’t have an end to this event. I don’t know if he got over the attack by himself, whether a doctor was called, or if he ended up in the hospital. All I know was at some point it was reported that he had a heart attack. To this day, I believe that was what I had witnessed.

“In the back of the building was a large room used to butcher livestock. Rarely I was sent back to help the butcher. My job usually consisted of attaching a chain to a back leg of an animal so it could be hoisted up and brought into the building. When the butcher was done for the day, I would hose down and help clean the area.

“The second story of the building provided another opportunity for me to make a little spending money. At some point in time, a Duckpin alley had been installed. They were always looking for pinsetters. Along with me, Bud Brown, Wayne Henessee, and maybe others were also pin setters.”

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By way of explanation, Tom cleared up a Duckpin alley, “It had two main features: the pin and the ball. Duckpins are shorter, thinner, and lighter than a modern bowling pin. The ball weighed around 3 ½ to 4 pounds and lacked finger holes. Bowlers had three balls per frame instead of two like modern bowlers.”

Dover has a Duckpin ball and several pins in the Bowling Alley display.

“As a pinsetter, you set the 10 pins, then get out of the way. There was a plank set to the side and a little higher than the pins. As quick as you set that last pin you jumped up and sat on the plank. You drew your legs up and hoped none of the pins bounced up and hit you. You should have received hazard pay because you could never get through a night without getting hit several times.

“Sometime the alley went out of business, but I don’t remember when …”

Another anecdote comes to mind concerning the second story of the building. He remembers that during World War II, when the IAAP was working at full capacity, there was a severe housing shortage for the new influx of workers. It was said that cardboard walls were installed and the upstairs was rented out as sleeping rooms. They called the place “Buckingham Palace.”

The building has played several different roles that Tom remembers, including a restaurant, a hair salon, and a chiropractic office to name a few. It will now be part of the Dover Museum. It will add to one of the best small museums in Iowa as more room will mean more things to explore. It holds the story of New London and Lowell for anyone who enjoys history. It remains a wonderful resource for those who love digging deeper.

Thanks Tom for sharing your memories of days gone by.

To everyone else, keep your eye on the new addition as it takes shape.