perous and increased to sixty members, with several hundred dollars of loaned money out. Their noble grands have been: T. B. Smeltzer, 1883-84; F. A. Jackson, 1884; S. E. Cooper, 1885; J. G. Wells, 1885; J. W. Maxwell, 1886; J. P. Wells, 1886; George Benedict, 1887; F. W. Hill, 1887; J. G. Wells, 1888; T. B. Schmeltzer, 1889; W. J. Venemon, 1889; George F. Berlin, 1890, and F. M. McClure, 1890. On September 24 following the Odd Fellows establishment, Herald Lodge No. 455, A. F. & A. M., was formed under dispensation to J. W. Maxwell, W. M. ; S. T. Goodman, S. W. ; James H. Schuyler, J. W.; R. R. Thompson, C. A. Wood, John Thompson, Henry Funk, W. W. Carr, D. F. Shope, C. H. Dickey, M. M. Randall, W. G. Dickey, A. Laughery, F. H. Higley and John Clevesly. A charter was granted the following June, and the society has grown until it now owns its hall and other property, valued at $1,000. Its membership is sixty-four. Mr. Maxwell's successors as worshipful master are: S. T. Goodm an, 1887-88 ; C. M. Morse, 1889, and J. H. Schuyler, 1890. Maxwell Lodge, I. O. G. T., existed from March, 1884, to December, 1886, when a fire destroyed their hall and its contents. James H. Ewing Post No. 305, organized March 20, 1884, has fared better. They began with twenty-eight charter members, and have increased to forty-two, although their property was destroyed by the same fire, and also erected in 1887 a hall, with property valued at $600. Their first officers were: C. H. Dickey, C.; W. M. Starr, S. V. C.; J. Bowen, J. V. C. ; John Cole, Q. M. ; W. J. Venemon, O. D.; Giles Randlett, D.; John Doty, C.; H. Dick, O. G.; C. M. Morse, A djt.; D. H. Sacia, S. M.; George Hardenbrook, Q. M. S. The successive commanders have been W. M. Starr, Jesse R. Wood, C. M. Morse, W. M. Starr and Jesse Bowen. The post was named in honor of James H. Ewing, of Company E, Third Iowa Infantry, who was killed at the battle of Shiloh. The Iowa Legion of Honor have also a society.
The masters of mails at Maxwell have been as follows: Albert H. McNall, February 14, 1882; Daniel M. Ruth, December 3, 1885, and Celine Laughery, March 19, 1889.
McCallsburg, with its grain-bins and elevators, bristled up on the prairies of Warren Township, although it is and has been a large shipping point, has grown very slowly until within the last two years, since which it has sprung to about 100 population. There have been few of the numerous railway offspring of Story County that have passed through severer struggles to get a name. When the Story City Branch Railway was surveyed in 1881, Hon. H. E. J. Boardman, of Marshalltown, and Capt. T. C. McCall, of Nevada, arranged to lay out a plat of forty acres, mostly on the south side of the track, where Main Street was made, a block distant from and parallel to the track. The construction company called the station Boardman, but as the proprietors reserved that right to themselves, it was decided between them that one should pay the other $50 and name it. Mr. Boardman's choice of name was Gookin, his mother's maiden name, while Capt. McCall; on the same grounds, chose Sinclair, and because of its more euphonious sound, the lot fell to Capt. McCall, and the place was called Sinclair. While arrangements were pending to secure a post-office and Capt. McCall was busy at the capitol at Des Moines, the railway company had received the track and secured a post-office named after an official-Latrobe. Capt. McCall's name, Sinclair, could not be used by the post-office department, but he still had the right to name it under the agreement, and as his friend would not release him he concluded to use his own name.
In the fall of 1881 the first store was built