Centerville, IA Daily Iowegian Fri May 31,1948
"...Harry's vocation is managing the Humeston Telephone Exchange in his home. For more than twenty years his hobby has been collecting replicas of man's best friend. Harry started buying artificial dogs from dime stores, novelty shopts, and second hand stores, until the thing finally got away from him. THEN HARRY'S DOGHOUSE became a dire necessity.
Although the original collection started through his own purchases, most of the dogs have been donated by friends and people who have visited the garden. Harry stated that he received momentoes each week from all parts of the United States and from G.I.'s in both Europe and the Far East.
A chance acquaintance with a couple who operated a bingo stand during a Humeston celebration admired the magificient array of canine china. Long after he had forgotten the bingo stand, Harry received a box through the mail chucked full of different dog novelties from the the bingo man.
There are many unusual ones in the collection. The oldest being an English Bulldog brought to this country by the grandmother of a neighbor.
The largest dog is a Fox Terrier 3 1/2 feet high and the smallest one is so small that even Harry can't find it any more. By far the most interesting of the lot are the mechanical members. One is a Mexican dog who smokes a cigaret, that glows intermittently. The Sargeant Flea Powder company sent Harry a dog that scratches his ears, while the eyes blink on and off. Two small dogs bob up and down on the wagging tail of a larger animal, while several others go around in circles as they ride the small mechanical merry- go- round
For entertainment the pups have their own canine band of fifteen pieces. The original hot dog has its place on the shelf with the others, made of rubber.
Harry's Doghouse is open to the public twenty-four hours a day, and the display is protected with a fool-proof alarm that rings a bell and lights a light on the telephone switchboard in the house."
From the Humeston New Era May, 1989;
" ....Oh how we used to build people up for their first visit to Harry's Dog House! We'd tell them where we were taking them, tell them we couldn't really be responsible for their safety, and asked if they were good runners......
Of course, they never quite knew what to expect and, of course, they were always enchanted. Not only by the hundred -- thousands -- of dogs of all descriptions, but also by the many way they were displayed. There were china dogs on merry-go-rounds, and plastic dogs that Harry had put magnets in so they would kiss each other or turn away disdainfully as they passed on circling tables.
There were dogs on seesaws, and dogs on shelves; there was Buster Brown's dog Tige, a pit bull, wasn't he? and the Victrola "His Master's Voice" dog; there were stuffed dogs and hot dogs, and a risque poster with a couple of outhouses, marked "Setters and Pointers" with a tree or fire hydrant or something between them marked "Any old dog.".
And the most fun of all was that Harry had made all these things himself and shared them all FREE and you could come see them right in his backyard without so much as an invitation or an appointment.
There were five doghouses all full of dogs (later elephants) to look at, and if you got through before others in the party finished browsing, you could wait among the wonders in the yard he had made out of rocks....
Rock gateposts marked the entry to the drive and to the sidewalk to the front door. Rock edgings went all along the drive, along with the walks to the doghouse, all round fishpond and made a walk to the gazebo affair in the center with mementos in the hiches.
...
The dogs are in the Wayne County Museum (now Prairie Trails Museum) these past ten years or so."
By John Clayton
When we stopped in to see him, he pushed aside the papers on his littered desk and asked us to follow him into the backyard.
Here a garden of brilliantly colored rocks. Our eyes fastened on the tiny lighthouse in the center, which was surrounded by a pool and connected to the outer ring by footbridges. Beyond the garden stood a similarly constructed building, above hung a sign: "Harry's Doghouse".
The matchless beauty and excellent proportions of each garden piece of evidence of the painstaking work which required twenty years to complete.
In the beginning Harry's Doghouse had three stone sides and fourth of glass. This arrangement proved unsatisfactory, as the many days of sunshine soon began to fade the colors. Rather than tear it down. Harry gathered more rocks and cement and built a leanto in front of the windowed side to shut out the part of the light. Later he plans to add swinging doors to the entrance to make it still darker. Now electricity has taken up where sunshine left off.
Corner Comments by Virginia Sponsler: