On January 9, 1868 the county board ordered that congregational township No. 73, Range 38, be setoff in a new township, named Sherman. The townships of Grant, Lincoln and Sherman were all created by the board at this January session, and the names given show how diversely the patriotic sentiments of stalwart unionism ruled the county board.

   The name G. A. Davis appears as the first member of the county board from Sherman township, January 4, 1869. George Martin was the first assessor; D. D. Sanders, the first justice of the peace, and H. W. Gaffitt the first clerk.

   One of the first schools was taught by D. C. Powell, in the winter of 1858-59, in a cabin near the Stennett bridge. There were 15 pupils. The teacher received $20.00 per month. Another first school was taught by Thomas Jack in a small cabin near the old Stennett mill. There were eight scholars. Mr. Jack received $25.00 per month. By 1881 Sherman Township had nine school districts, with nine frame school houses, valued at $3600.00. There were five male and eight female teachers; 216 boys and 173 girls of school age, of whom 308 were enrolled, but only an average of 176 attended school. The cost was an average of $1.40 a month for each one's tuition.

   The oldest farm in lies in Sherman township in Section 23. The farm is now owned by E. W. and Myrtle Erickson.

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Elliot, Then .....

   Just how Elliot got its name is hard to determine. From the best information available, the town was named after a man who worked on the railroad which was put through Elliott in the year 1879. Just who he was and why he was thus honored is the sixty-four dollar question.

   The land on which Elliott stands was a farm back in 1879. A Mr. C. E. Perkins, acting for the C. B. & Q. railroad, bought this farm of a man by the name of Gillmore, and platted the town of Elliott, filling the original plat October 18, 1879.

   Within a year Elliott was a pioneer city of "firsts." Its first store was built by Joe McClure, who also ran its first drugstore. First blacksmith, Fred Garberg; first mayor, L. D. Babcock; first postmaster, I. H. Page; first depot agent, O. N. Phillips; first doctor, Fred Baster; first bank in 1884 opened by H. E. and J. J. Manker; first newspaper, the Elliott Enterprise, with O. C. Bates as editor, started six months after the birth of the town; first baby girl born here, later became Mrs. Mabel Reynolds Kinney: first bay baby born here, George Mercer.

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Elliot, Now .....

   While Elliott has fewer business houses than it had a generation ago, the residential section has not lost much. There are today 170 homes in Elliott, all occupied. Of that number 20 are apartments. The percentage of home owners here beats all recorded records for a small town. There are not over seven homes here occupied by tenants.

   Elliott's waterworks system is tip-top with stand pipe, mains and sewers all over town. The town boasts a fine fire truck with a big surplus tank for use where no mains are available, as in the farm communities nearby.

   A $5,000 dike thrown around the west part of town a few years ago has been one hundred per cent successful. There hasn't been a flood since it was built.

   A consolidated school with its five buses attends to the scholastic needs of a large district.  The school, in conjunction with the town, has one of the best lighted baseball and football fields in southwest Iowa.

   Practically all streets paved with black top and some with rock surface, lift Elliott out of the mud.

   Two active churches, Methodist and Christian, are well attended. Both have well managed Sunday schools, women's societies and also young people's departments to aid in church progress.

   Women's clubs galore keep the gentle sex from becoming home-bound in Elliott and adjacent communities. There are fourteen clubs in all, not counting the church aid organizations, in and around Elliott. A well stocked public library is a generously-patronized educational feature of the town.

Elliott in Days of the Buggy