O'Neil, 1890. They have also organized a Woman's Relief Corps.
Sheldahl was the outgrowth of the Narrow Gauge railway that appeared from Des Moines in 1874, and of the desire of the Norwegian and Swede population of the southwest corner of the county to have a railway station; for it must be remembered that the Narrow Gauge, now the Des Moines & Minneapolis branch of the North-Western Railway, is a sort of dividing line between a Sweden on the west and a Norway on the east in that region. While Messrs. Polk & Hubble, of this railway, were locating stations, H. Sheldahl, the owner of land in the Story County corner, D. McGraw, the Polk County owner, and Mr. Hopkins, owner of the Boone County corner of this site, tried to get the station there. Hon, Oley Nelson, a leader among the Norwegian people, tried to secure the location farther north in one county to avoid school district inconvenience, which was certain to follow in a town located in three counties, and also because a site farther north was higher land. Mr. Sheldahl, who had secured the land since its entry February 1, 1856, by Dr. J. W. Morris, of Des Moines, offered twenty-five acres for the site and secured it, and the name of the Sheldahl family was used. In August, 1874, an engineer, Mr. Pelton and Mr. Oley Nelson laid out the town. The Boone County line was named Fifth Street, and the street on the line between Story and Polk Counties was called County Avenue, and this proved to be the leading street, for the depot grounds were laid out just north of it in Story, and the first business was planted on it east of the depot. Hon. Oley Nelson built a warehouse on the depot grounds first, and was the postmaster from the first until 1882. Buildings went up at once in 1874 on County Avenue. Mr. Nelson put up the first store on Block 15; L. Soderland built one on Lot 10; within a year J. N. Scott, of Cambridge, moved his drug store to Block 16; C. C. Holm built a shoe shop. Others came in during the next four years who were almost without exception Norwegian, until the population reached probably 500. Business still kept to County Avenue east of the railway. C. J. Cassell built a grist-mill; and an elevator, recently burned, was erected by Evans Bros., of Ames. The residence portion was northwest, west and south of the business center.
After 1878 everything was at a standstill until the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway came into the county a little to the north of them in 1881. As trade had been done largely with Des Moines, it was at once felt that the new trunk line would offer such advantages to shippers to the Chicago market, that some town would arise to destroy Sheldahl, unless the road could be persuaded to come to it. An attempt was made, but of no avail, and the railway in 1881 took the course it has now. Then there was a general desire to get over on the trunk line, at Madrid, Sheldahl Crossing, or Cambridge. Every one wanted to dispose of his property, and the depreciation in price was wonderful. Some went to one town and some to another. A large mass remained in suspense, not knowing what to do, until 1887, when a general meeting of citizens was held, and it was voted to move bodily to Sheldahl Crossing-houses, business, homes and all. This was done at once, and further notice will be taken of it in the sketch of Slater. From that time on, Sheldahl has been dwindling to a station and corners-a "deserted village" in fact. On the Story County side there is but one grocery, while a general store, grocery and furniture, hardware, post-office and feed-mill are the extent of its business center, with a population of less than 100. It is a good shipping point, the charges