131.719.5

In 1919, Archie A. and Nancy C. Martin, an African-American couple who had moved to Ames in 1915, purchased a lot about two doors east of the corner on the south side of Lincoln Way near the Kellogg Avenue intersection (218 Lincoln Way). There they built this house which today [2006] remains in the Martin and Shipp families. The Martin home was the site of many gatherings for the small black population in Ames. The second floor of the home was reserved for African-American students attending Iowa State College. These students had been admitted to the college but were not given housing on the campus; they had both room and board in the Martins' house. This photograph shows another residence west of the Martins' so probably it was taken sometime in the 1920s or 1930s because the 1940 "Ames City Directory" lists a service station at that location (223 Lincoln Way), but the 1936 "Ames City Directory" does not. (See article, "Early African-American Families of Ames" in the Winter, 1990-91 issue of "The Ames Intelligencer, the newsletter of the Ames Heritage Association).