Wilson’s Curio Shop

Leonidas L. Wilson came to Center Point in 1855 with his parents. His father, J. F. Wilson operated the first drug store in Center Point, manufacturing their own line of patent medicines. Leonidas was a well rounded businessman as he started the first real newspaper in 1873, drew up the documents for the incorporation of Center Point, and served on the first town council. In 1914, his exclusive business was selling insurance and bonds. He ran his insurance business out of his Curio Shop located at 511 Washington Street behind today’s Nelson Cabinets. He collected unusual artifacts in his shop for display to the public. He ran newspaper articles often telling the public of his latest specimens he had acquired. On display were a 1790 flax spinning wheel from Scotland; a 1812 flint lock musket, captured from a confederate bushwacker in 1861 by a union soldier; a double barreled pistol taken from Sitting Bull when captured; a piece of Sycamore tree that grew in the cellar of the store where Abe Lincoln clerked in 1832; bill of sale for $800 for a negro slave in 1841; guns, razors and nooses used by suicides presented by Coronor King; Egytian idol from 3000 BC; coins from 683 BC of every century down to the present; ancient steel coat of arms; relics from Vicksburg, Antietem, Gettysburg; Japanese executioner swords; stuffed animals and birds, etc. Mr. Wilson beckoned people to stop in and see his Curio Shop, it didn’t cost a cent.

Circa 1914 inside L. L. Wilson’s Curio Shop

Eventually, some of Mr. Wilson’s collection was given to the city and displayed in the old town hall up until the late 1940s when it was given to the Center Point High School and displayed for a few years. Don Carver recalls how just before Mr. Bob Bowers retired from teaching, the remainder of the collection was given to the University of Iowa.