Ayrshire is an active community located in the northwest corner of Iowa. It is a wonderful place to live and a great place to visit! It is small enough to know your neighbors, but large enough to offer most everything you may need. It also offers Silver Lake as a recreation area for fishing and boating activities.
In the 1880s the Des Moines and Fort Dodge Railroad (later part of Minneapolis and St. Louis Railway), having reached Fort Dodge, began building to the northwest. In October 1882 the rails reached the location of Ayrshire, and a depot was built the following month. The railroad had acquired 80 acres for a townsite, and by 1883 several businesses had been established.
Ayrshire was incorporated on 20 September 1895.
At one time it had two banks, two grocery stores, blacksmith shop, livery stable, creamery, hotel, at least two barber shops; Lutheran, Catholic, Methodist and Baptist churches; five gas stations, grain elevator, two cafes, a locker plant, a pharmacy, a lumber yard, two beer halls and several other businesses. It had both a Catholic and a public high school. The Catholic high school closed in 1947. The lower grades closed in 1968. The public school closed in the spring of 1982. The public school mascot was the Ayrshire Beavers.
In 1972, the town drew national attention for having the youngest
mayor in America. Jody Smith was nineteen when he was elected mayor.
The town celebrated its Quasquicentennial in 2007.