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The original owners of the village plat of Stanwood were William C. and Samuel H. Maley and William Preston, who obtained a tract of 880 acres of farming lands adjoining the village plat by purchase from Mr. Flournoy in April, 1868. Messrs. Maley and Preston proposed to the C. & N. W. Ry. to buy a village of forty acres, giving an undivided one-half interest to that corporation, on condition of its locating a depot here. In 1868, the offer was accepted, and in December of that year the first side track was laid, and the survey of the village completed in the Spring of 1869.
William Allen was the first man to build a house in the newly created plat. He erected a small frame structure, in the Spring of 1869, a short distance southwest of the depot building. Mr. Allen opened the first tavern in his house as soon as it was finished. The second house was occupied by S. R. Houghton, pending the erection of his own public house, during the Summer of 1869. It was in the former building that the first religious service was held within the limits of the village, in the Spring of 1869, by a traveling clergyman of the Methodist Episcopal denomination, whose name, unfortunately, is now unknown.
Religious services were held by the Reformed Presbyterians earlier than the above date in the vicinity of what became the village; but that society had no regular organization or place of stated worship. The United Presbyterian Church, with which the Reformed Presbyterians above referred to united, was organized January 25, 1868, by Rev. J. S. Buchanan, of Clarence, in a school house one and a half miles south of the village site, and was transferred to Stanwood shortly after the survey was made. Rev. W. Larrimer was installed the first Pastor November 8, 1870. Rev. D. Forsyth took charge March 1, 1874. Present membership, 50. A church edifice is now owned by the society, but no Pastor is located here. Regular services are held by Rev. J. B. Galloway, of Clarence. The Methodist Episcopal society has a house of worship, Rev. Mr. Rankin, Pastor. The organization of the society dates back to 1869.
The first school was opened in the Winter of 1869-70, with John B. Ingersoll as teacher. The first school house was built in 1872, when the village was organized as an independent district. In 1876, the existing school building was erected. Misses Little and Shattuck, present teachers.
The first Postmaster was William Allen, appointed in 1869.
The first store was opened by John Bell, in April, 1869. The second store was owned and managed by Maley Bros. & McCoy in May, 1869.
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There are two elevators located here; one owned by L. & S. C. Wilkins, and the other by Mr. Pickering, the latter of Chicago.
The depot building was completed in June, 1869. Prior to that date, the place was merely a “flag” station. Population, 350.