T-R PHOTO BY SARA JORDAN-HEINTZ A desk once owned by Jessie Binford has recently been donated for use at her childhood home, the Binford House, 110 N. Second Ave., by David Shearer, left. The desk had once been a gift from Jessie Binford to Shearer’s aunt Katherine Manship Schmidt. Board Member Joann Neven, right, said the desk is a welcome addition to the home.

A desk once owned by Jessie Binford has recently been gifted for use at her childhood home and will be viewable to the public for the first time on Saturday during the Holiday Stroll.

Binford (1876-1966) secured a legacy as a noted social worker, laboring alongside Jane Addams at Hull House in Chicago. The Binford House, 110 N. Second Ave. was built in 1874 by her father Thaddeus Binford and she inherited it in 1929 after the death of her mother Angelica. In the late 1920s, the Marshalltown Federation of Women’s Clubs needed a residence to serve as a meeting place for the city’s burgeoning women’s organizations. On March 6, 1930, a letter was read to the Federation from Binford, offering her family home to the organization. The house was to be given to the Federation with the stipulation that it would never be mortgaged or sold, being used for the purpose of a meeting place.

While the Federation used the residence throughout the ensuing decades, the deed was not turned over to the organization until 1965. Today it is still used by the Federation, and is available to rent for parties and other special occasions. It is decorated with various family heirlooms and related antiquity.

“We’re very happy to have the desk. At this point, we have only two or three other pieces in the house owned by Jessie,” Board Member Joann Neven said.

The desk was donated by David Shearer, who serves as administrator of the estate of his late aunt and uncle, Katherine Manship Schmidt and Lester Schmidt.

“Katherine worked at the Tallcorn Hotel as a maid, and Jessie was living on one of the floors she took care of, and they became friends,” Shearer said. “At some point, Jessie decided to give my aunt the desk.”

Katherine Manship Schmidt treasured the gift for many years.

“It is from the Golden Oak Era — made between about 1890 to 1920. It is just a little drop-down secretary. My aunt used it a lot,” Shearer said.

After leaving Chicago in 1963, having worked at Hull House since 1902, Binford returned to Marshalltown where she took a suite at the Tallcorn Hotel, which allowed her the ability to look out over her nearby childhood home. She resided there until her death on July 9, 1966, at age 90. She is buried in the family plot at Riverside Cemetery.

Neven spent hours polishing and cleaning the desk, which for years had been in storage.

“Jessie was not an ostentatious person. Being a social worker, she had her focus with the children in Chicago — not on possessions,” Neven said.

The desk will be on display during the Holiday Stroll when the Binford House has its open house. Christmas carols will be performed from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. and refreshments will be served. The desk will then go on permanent display.

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Contact Sara Jordan-Heintz at

(641) 753-6611 or

sjordan@timesrepublican.com