& Maxwell secure the land, give the railway one-half the plat and right-of-way, and the railway lays it out. This is recorded in December, 1881. The plat was very regular, and all lay north of the track. J. O. French opened his lumber yard as the first business. Early in the spring of 1882 Albert H. McNall built the first store-room on the corner of First and Main Streets, and the signal was given for business to begin to line Main Street. Baldwin & Maxwell, the latter of whose name, the town bears, moved to their present quarters, which became their main store, and other "Center" people moved in. Charles Heitchn next built a hardware on the southwest corner of Main and First Streets, and was soon followed in the same line by Ed. Raft on the northeast corner of Broad and Main. Near by arose a grocery for N. B. Wilcox, of Iowa Center. The hotel at the corner of Railroad Avenue and Main followed, and Bowen's Hotel arose on the corner of Main and Second Streets. The building occupied by Dickey & Hill came about next, and King & Starr's creamery also King, Starr & Co. erected the first brick block, and Cooper & Co. opened a furniture store. Mr. Roe's store and the drug store of George Benedict were about all erected in 1882. That was a year of boom. Since then the growth has been more steady, but continuous, while the amount of business has surpassed the growth. The growth is now marked in the line of residences. Maxwell has hardly passed the robust youth state yet. Her manufacture is represented by the creamery and tile and brick factory, the former now operated by the Cooperative Farmers' Association. Of two elevators, one has a capacity of about 12,000 bushels, the other being smaller and containing a steam feed mill. The Bank of Maxwell, established by E. D. Dorn, in 1884, and afterward bought by H. A. Church, has been owned by Clark McLain since August, 1889. Its correspondents are the Union National and the First National Banks of Chicago and Nevada, respectively. And this is how it all came about.
Maxwell was an incorporated town after December, 1883, and the election of January 21, 1884, gave the following council: Mayor, J. W. Maxwell; councilmen, J. O. French, William Starr, W. G. Dickey, G. W. Olinger, S. E. Cooper and T. B. Schmeltzer, with J. F. Allen as recorder. Aside of the establishment of a good system of sidewalks, and a town well in 1884, little else has been done outside of the regular routine of council work. Other things will be cared for in the future. The successive mayors are: J. W. Maxwell, 1884; S. T. Goodman, 1885; J. O. French, 1886-87; W. M. Starr, 1888-89; and J. G. Wells, 1890.
The newspaper has had as vigorous a career as the town that supports it. The first issue of a paper began November 30, 1882. It was the Maxwell Times, edited by W. D. McTavish, and in form was a five-column folio, of Republican tone. This was removed a few months later, and the present Maxwell Tribune, of the same size, started out on December 28, 1883, as an Independent-Republican news-gatherer, and edited by L. R. Shepherd. J. F. Allen became partner in 1884, and sole proprietor in 1885, but Mr. Shepherd soon re-secured it, as a seven-column folio. The office uses steam-power, and does stereotyping, and besides its own paper, issues the Garland, of Cambridge.
Two well-known fraternities were Maxwell's Pioneers, in 1883, and the Good Templars and Grand Army organized in the following year. Social Lodge No. 463, I. O. O. F., was organized April 3, 1883, by D. McKim, D. D. G. M., with T. B. Schmeltzer, N. G.; F. A. Jackson, V. G.; J. O. French, Secy.; R. W. Roe, Treas.; and D. M. Ruth, W. H. Bair, as charter members and officers. The lodge has grown pros-