Harry's youngest daughter Pat sent along pictures and rememberings of the days when they went searching for the special kind of rock her dad wanted for his dog houses.
She wrote "My sister, Elaine and brother Harold have better memories of the rock gathering then I do, but I believe he started gathering the rocks right after we moved into our home in 1924, the year I was born.
Elaine remembers that they couldn't go home until they had their bucket full and it filled up quickly if she was promised a 'cherry blossom' pop treat at their completion."
"When there was enough rocks, he then started the rock garden, lily pool, and the posts in front of our home. None of us could come up with an exact date the first dog house was completed, but the date on the fire place at the end of Dog House # 1 was 1940. After that he added doors on #1 and added two more doghouses on the west side and we have no dates when those were completed-- maybe they never were as he always kept adding something else."
"Dad put it together himself as far as we remember he never had any help."
To those who are unfamiliar with the dog houses and their location they were located one block north of Broad Street and two houses east of Highway 65. Today only a few remants remain.
Markses' dog collection went to the Wayne Co. Museum in 1980 (Now the Prairie Trails Museum).
The collection was from between 8,000 and 10,000. Dogs of all shapes and sizes. Later he added elephants.
The largest dog in the collection was of the Victorola Dog listening to "His Master's Voice".
Many children of the town and vistors ran to the doors to see who could be the first in turning on the switches that turned the dogs to magic.
It was a great tourist attraction for our town and is greatly missed.. NEW! More About Harrys' Doghouse
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