Conway Springs Star & Argonia Argosy
19 August 2010

FROM ARGOSY FILES – TWENTY YEARS AGO, August 1990

LEON AMMANN

Machine shop equipment, tools, vehicles, steel, salvage iron and miscellaneous attracted buyers from a wide area during the Ammann Machine auction here Friday and Saturday. The equipment was owned by Leon ammann who was in business here more than 50 years. He died February 3 of this year.

The Amman collection began many years ago when Leon was just a small boy. During an interview by the Argosy in 1968 Ammann said he practicaally grew up in the farm shop helping his dad, Jim, with various mechanical repair jobs. A native of this community, amman was born and raised southeast of Milan and attended country schools there. He graduated from the Milan High School in 1930. The elder Ammann [Leon’s dad, Jim] is a resident of Spring View Manor, Conway Springs and will be celebrating his 102 birthday the last of October.

In 1937 Leon decided to go into business for himself. He purchased a machine shop at Elkhart and moved it to the Milan farm. In the spring of 1939 he moved the shop to Argonia in the building just south of what is not the Four Seasons restaurant. More room was needed and Ammann constructed and moved to the building just east of what is now the Argonia Clinic. During World War 2 he sub-contracted on aircraft parts.

In 1951 the firm was moved to the location one block west of the bank where he did designing, engineering, sub-contracting, built combine attachments, fertilizer applicators, and was never too busy to do repair work for various persons. He held patents on some of his designs. Leon was Civil Defense director for many years and fire chief of the Argonia Fire Department for over 20 years.

August 7, a fast spreading fire of undetermined origin destroyed the machine shop housed in the east metal building. Althougoh Ammann was in declining health at the time he was determined to rebuild and salvage as much equipment as possible. He said he was ovewhelmed by the large number of persons who came to offer assistance during and after the fire.