116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Time Machine: The Ranshaw House
Family built landmark home in North Liberty in 1908
John Ranshaw bought his first 20 acres of Johnson County land from Nathaniel Scales. He sold that and bought 160 acres in Madison Township west of what is now North Liberty, eventually acquiring 400 acres.
John’s son, Samuel, born in 1863 in a log cabin, would grow up to build a landmark house in North Library that now serves as a community space in the Johnson County city.
Samuel married Emma Stouffer on May 1, 1884. The couple would have six children — Raymond, Lily, Ruth, Elsie, Laura, and J. Arthur, born in 1886, who died in infancy.
The Ranshaw family belonged to the Church of God in North Bend, the original community founded west of North Liberty.
Samuel inherited his father’s farm when John Ranshaw died in 1896.
More than a decade later, in 1908, he built a big, modern home on 10 acres in Penn Township near North Liberty. The six-bedroom house at 515 W. Penn St. was the only home in the area with gaslights, softened water and indoor plumbing, including two bathrooms.
It would be the site of many family celebrations over the next three decades. In May 1909, for example, about 30 family members gathered in the Ranshaw home to celebrate Samuel and Emma’s silver wedding anniversary.
Family weddings
When the Ranshaws’ son, Raymond, married Fern Swisher in July 1916, all of Fern’s immediate family stayed in the roomy Ranshaw home. When the newlyweds returned from their honeymoon in September, 135 guests gathered at the house for a dinner party.
On Samuel and Emma’s 33rd wedding anniversary, May 1, 1917, their daughter Lily married Tom Gordon in the family home. Lily’s sister, Elsie, played the “Lohengrin” wedding march as the bridal party descended the main staircase. Sister Ruth was the bridesmaid. The ceremony took place in the home’s big bay window, decorated with an arbor of huckleberry greenery.
A few weeks later, on Aug. 7, 1917, friends and neighbors arranged a surprise party for Elsie Ranshaw on her 21st birthday. The event was a treat for her parents, who had been unable to attend church for some time, according to the Iowa City Press-Citizen.
Shortly after that, Elsie married Robert Bowman at the house. This time, Ruth played the wedding march on the piano as the bride and groom descended the main staircase. Again, the ceremony was held in the big bay window.
Electricity, funerals
The Ranshaw House was wired with electricity in 1917, a little more than a year after the North Liberty Electric Light Co. had formed and had wired about 40 houses in the city.
The house saw its first funeral Feb. 3, 1919, when Emma Ranshaw died of pneumonia at age 56. Services were held at her home and then at the North Bend Church of God, where Emma had been a member since childhood. Four ministers took part in the services. She was buried in the North Liberty cemetery.
“She was always a lover of little children and for several years was a teacher in the primary department of the Sunday school,” the Press- Citizen said in a Feb. 14 memorial column.
Samuel married a widow, Rose Boyington of Galt, Iowa, in 1921. Rose died in December 1936, and Samuel was reported to be critically ill with pneumonia. Rose’s service was held in the family home; she was taken to Galt for another service and burial.
The death and Samuel’s poor health coincided with the Great Depression, and the Ranshaw family sold its storied home within the year. Samuel began living with his children, beginning with Lily and her husband, Tom Gordon, in Madison Township and moving on to live with Lily and with Laura, who lived in Clarinda with her husband, the Rev. Thurias Fessler.
Samuel was living with the Fesslers when he died May 2, 1951, at age 87. By then, only his son, Raymond, and one daughter, Laura, survived.
The North Bend Church of God still stood on County Road H west of North Liberty. The old church became a wedding chapel in 1986 and Heart to Heart Bridal in 1989.
Since then
Over the years, the Ranshaw home housed six other families and was a preschool and day care center in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
In 2004, the city of North Liberty bought the house, with an eye toward using the property to expand parking for the nearby Community Center. The home’s interior was in good shape, though the exterior and roof needed attention.
Locals thought the historic house should be saved and formed the North Bend Historical Committee. On Sept. 26, 2012, the house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Grants and donations paid for renovations and repairs.
Samuel and Emma’ Ranshaw’s grandson, Harlan Ranshaw, celebrated his 90th birthday at the Ranshaw House in 2015.
In 2017, Highway 965 in front of the house was renamed Ranshaw Way, and, in 2024, the house’s address changed to 515 Community Dr.
According to the North Liberty website, the house is now home to the North Liberty Youth Council, Summer Lunch & Fun, the Ranshaw House Concert Series and other community programming.
Comments: D.fannonlangton@gmail.com
Daily Newsletters