The Jack Haire home A native Fort Dodger—Jack Haire—who was in the lumber business here for 45 years, erected this Snell Place home in 1922. It is located at 815 Northwood Ave. The house is now owned and occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Glenn R. Schnurr who purchased it in 1960. Schnurr is vice president of the Federal Mortgage and Investment Company of Fort Dodge. The Schnurrs have five children—Matt, Sally, Donald, Pat and Tom. The home has spacious rooms including living room, dining room, library, kitchen, butler’s pantry, breakfast room and bath on the first floor. The second floor has five bedrooms, sleeping porch and three baths. A recreation room is located in the basement. At one time there was a tennis court in the area just south of the house. Jack Haire was the son of John Haire, pioneer Fort Dodge businessman. Born in 1877, he attended local schools and later graduated from the Des Moines College of Pharmacy. He was a partner with his brother, Will W. Haire, in the Sackett & Haire Drug Store for 10 years before going into the lumber business. In 1909 Jack Haire and George W. Mason, who was a partner in the Mason & O’Connell Lumber Company, purchased the Chapin Lumber Yard located at First Avenue North and Sixth Street. The name was changed to the Fort Dodge Lumber Company and the business operated until 1954 when it was sold to the Joyce Lumber Company. The Joyce firm continued at the First Avenue North location for the next five years. Haire’s two sons joined their father in the lumber business—George in 1931 and John in 1935—and they continued in its active management until the firm was sold to the Joyce Company. Jack Haire retired from the lumber business in 1954. In 1962 he died at age 85. Haire was prominent in state lumber circles and active in Fort Dodge affairs. He served as a director of the Fort Dodge Serum Company, the State Bank and the Fort Dodge Telephone Company. Married in 1907 to Margaret Mason, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George W. Mason, they were parents of three sons—George and John, both of Fort Dodge; and Dr. Mason Haire, Boston, Mass. |