BUSINESS INTERESTS.

The business interests of Glenwood are both extensive and valuable. Nearly every branch of trade and industry is represented by firms, some of them of long standing, and all of them of great enterprise, and ranging from the banker to the curbstone merchant. A vast amount of money is invested in goods, and annually the means so placed are becoming greater and of more importance. Some of the more prominent merchants are the Heinsheimer Brothers, dealers in dry goods and clothing; L. W. Russell & Co., dry goods and clothing; A. J. Russell, dry goods, clothing, and groceries; C. H. Dyer, groceries; Russell & King, hardware; Moore & Blake, hardware; Mart. Swinnerton, marble works; Record Bros., books and stationery; I. N. Wilson, furniture; M. G. Edwards, drugs; W. G. Fletcher, drugs; W. F. Laraway, jeweler; W. H. Parsons, physician; Kelly Bros., attorneys; Rude & Woodruff, attorneys; Starbuck & Ivory, attorneys; Watkins & Williams, attorneys; Hale, Stone & Proudfit, attorneys; J. M. Shafner, harness and saddlery; B. F. Buffington, grain dealer; L. W. Russell, agricultural implements; and many other firms representing the other classes of business. It would be impossible to attempt any statement of the annual sum yearly changing hands in mercantile enterprise in this thriving city, but the amount is very great. Business is seemingly conducted on safe principles, and failures are very few. The business houses are many of them attractive and some quite elegant, testifying all to the thrift of their owners.

MALVERN.

This city dates its existence from the completion of the C., B. & Q. R. R., of which it is a station. It is at the crossing of Silver Creek, some mile and a half south of the center of the county, and in the midst of one of the finest agricultural sections to be found in the United States. The first house in the city was built by J. D. Paddock, in the fall of 1869, before the town had been platted. Mr. Paddock came from Chicago, Illinois, and was associated with his brother, Charles H. Paddock, who came here from Clinton county, Iowa, though originally from McHenry county, Illinois. The Paddock brothers opened the first stock of goods in Malvern on November 15, 1869. Next came J. N. Sheldon, H. E. Boehner, William M. McCrary, and D. McFarlane, all of whom engaged in the general merchandise business, and succeeded soon in building up trades that in older countries would have required years to establish. F. P. Spencer and Curtis & Sweetser "started with the town" in the grocery and provision business exclusively. In the year following the establishment of these first business houses occurred the birth of the first male child in the town, John, son of Thomas Hawkins, and soon after was born Nettie, daughter of J. W. and Nancy Lawson.

The growth of the town is one of the most remarkable features in its history. Hardly had it been laid out before much of the land passed into the hands of men who became residents and at once began to work for the interests of their chosen city-home. In 1872 the town was duly incorporated, and worked under its articles of incorporation until 1878, when it was ascertained that there was an illegality in the process in that the act of incorporation had not been recorded. Steps were at once taken to remedy the matter. The reincorporation petition was duly filed on the 2d day of December, 1878, and on the 28th day of the same month a unanimous vote for reincorporation was cast. The court issued its order to incorporate on the 30th of the month, and on January 27, 1879, at an election held for city officers, the following were elected, thus completing the legal process: Mayor, H. E. Boehner; Recorder, R. J. Finch; Councilmen, William Black, J. W. Bartlett, Pierce Metz, J. D. Paddock, W. B. Smith and J. C. Herbert. This second incorporation has insured the well being and success of the city, and its prosperity has been both great and marked.

CIVIC SOCIETIES.

From time immemorial men have banded themselves together in secret organizations for various purposes. In ancient times the growth of art and science, and of poetic art especially, was intimately bound up in or connected with societies of a secret nature. Much of the philosophy of the Greeks and Romans found its birth in the secret groves of Italy or Greece. Jurisprudence and grammer had an origin in the same manner, and some of the most distinguished in mathematical and mechanical sciences were members of secret orders. Though now, and without the slightest grounds, often accounted hostile to religion, secret orders really owe their origin to religion or to religious institutions. As De Quincy has so eloquently shown in his famous essay on the Essenes, Christianity at its inception was a secret institution. Opposition comes with a very poor grace from those who owe their existence to similar institutions, and whose practices now border on secresy. In the secret walls of European cloisters were elaborated many of the dogmas of modern faith, and all with a veil of mystery that is not yet entirely obliterated. The greatest

of all the Jews, the law giver himself, Moses, went apart, in secret, to obtain the laws of God. The eternal fire was kept veiled from the eyes and reason of men within the holiest of holies. Without entering upon a polemic, or wishing to arouse hostile criticism, the suggestion is offered that the world will never be freed from secret orders, for the highest interests of men have always been subserved by them, and they have become so powerful a factor in the amelioration of the condition of men that they are indispensable.

Homes have been visited and cheered, families cared for by lodges, the

sick visited, and with a faithfulness and self-denial that only brothers, true to the mystic tie, can present or illustrate. It is not compulsory attention, it is not charity, but the simple outgrowth of a pure and exalted humanity. Nor can institutions of this nature justify or shield either crime or evil, based as they are upon the purest morality and that code of all moral codes, the Bible, they must war against vice in all its forms, nor brook the appearance of evil. The men in them are usually the best in the community. True, it often happens that mistakes are made, but what organization is freed from them? They should be measured by the quality of the work they do, rather than by the public estimate of what they ought to accomplish.

Of societies of this nature there are two in Malvern, the history of each of which, though brief, here follows:

MASONIC LODGE, or SILVER URN LODGE NO. 234, was organized under dispensation June 2, 1869, and was started on Silver Creek, in 1870, at a point nearly five miles north of Malvern. The charter members, among others, included Z. W. Burnham, J. H. Wing, and S. Christy. The first named was master, the second S. W., and the last, junior warden. The number of members is now fifty, and the lodge is now officered by A. Wingate, W. M.; I. J. Swain, S. W.; R. D. S. Padget, J. W.; H. Barnes, Treasurer; W. E. Ross, Secretary; Pierce Metz, S. D.; H. A. Norton, J. D.; M. J. Cutis, S. S.; R. T. Dounor, J. S. and T. Fallwell, Tyler.

MALVERN LODGE No. 276, I. O. O. F., was instituted March 16, 1874, with the following charter members and officers: W. M. McCary, N. G.; G. D. Reynolds, V. G.; Henry Bolenbecker; A. Eddy, Rec. Sec.; Saul Hibbs, E. J. Coleman; J. J. Dunlap; Michael Brobst, and George T. Tibbetts. The present membership is eighty, governed by the following persons as officers-in-chief: J. L. Talbott, N. G.; R. McLean, V. G.; and W. E. Ross, Secretary.

There is in connection with this lodge, a Rebecca Lodge, No. 84, instituted in October, 1876. The charter members were William Gray, J. H. Safely, Minnie Safely, and twenty-four others.

THE WOMAN'S CHRISTIAN TEMPERANCE UNION was organized November 29, 1877, by Mrs. Aldrich, of Cedar Rapids. The officers chosen at that time were Mrs. J. D. Paddock, President; Mrs. McIntosh, VicePresident, Mrs. H. Barnes, Secretary, and Mrs. W. D. Evans, Treasurer. The society edits a column devoted to temperance in the local papers, and is busily engaged in the good cause, devoted to its philanthropic labors, and richly successful.

A cornet band was organized in April, 1880, with a membership of ten, and this completes the civic societies and organizations in this thriving

CORPORATIONS AND INDUSTRIES.

There are two banking houses in Malvern, both of good business standing and influence. The oldest of these is the Farmers and Traders' bank, which was organized in July, 1871, as a private banking house, by W. D. Evans. Its date of organization makes it the oldest bank in the county, thus giving it a short precedence of the Mills county National bank of Glenwood. The great financial panic of 1873 was passed safely and its capital in no wise impaired. From that year until 1875 the business was conducted under the firm name of Evans & Swan, but since that year it has been solely managed by the present proprietor.

The remaining banking house is the First National Bank of Malvern, organized January 1, 1875, with a capital stock of fifty thousand dollars. The surplus fund is now over fifteen thousand dollars. J. M. Strahan is the president, and L. Bentley, cashier, and these gentlemen have managed its affairs ever since its organization. The bank, as the surplus fund evidences, is in a prosperous condition, and is deservedly successful. The first elevator was built in 1869, at the beginning of the town, by J. D. Ladd & Co. In 1870 it passed in the hands of J. F. Evans, who conducted it until 1874, when it was sold to Curtis & Donner. In 1875 the firm changed to Donner Brothers, but a fire destroyed it in that year. Mr. Curtis, the retiring member of the old firm, formed a co-partnership with J. F. Evans, under the firm name of J. F. Evans & Co., and these gentlemen erected the present structure. It has a capacity of twenty thousand bushels, and through it yearly passes a total of more than four hundred thousand bushels, all handled by the firm.

The Malvern Mills are located about one and a half miles south of the city, and were put in operation by Brothers & McIntosh in 1875-6. In 1879 the property passed into the hands of F. M. Buffington, the present proprietor. The mill contains all the appliances usual to institutions of its character, has four run of stone, and a capacity of one hundred bushels of grain daily.

These corporations, together with a total of sixty-nine business firms, combine to give an air of thrift and enterprise to the city that few places of its size can equal. Added to this, its central favorable location, in the midst of one of the best farming counties in the state of Iowa, insures its permanency and business success. Then there is a strong and decided movement being made to secure the county seat, and if, as its citizens seem to feel assured, it is successful in this it will become the metropolis of the county. Its position, on two railroads, makes it easy of access from all parts of the county, and it may be only a question of a comparatively short time before it becomes the capital.

CHURCHES.

THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH was organized as a portion of a circuit, April 24, 1870. The members, so far as they can be gathered at this date, were J. H. Madden, Mr. Reed and Henry Raines. The organization grew very rapidly in strength, as may be gathered from the fact that a frame church edifice was constructed in 1872, and dedicated in that year by the Rev. E. M. H. Fleming. The pastors who have ministered to this congregation have been F. Plumb, J. P. Evans, R. Dailey, J. C. Waynick, D. C. Wortz, J. M. Conrad, D. McIntyre, and A. J. Andres, the present incumbent. The membership is sixty-five, and the charge growing yearly more interesting.

THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF MALVERN dates its existence from December 6, 1870. The original membership consisted of Andrew and Margaret Berkheimer, W. A. Cain, Mary Carsner, Amanda E. Davis, Margaret Dunnigan, W. K. Follett, B. G. Harrison, Phyllis Harrison, Ellen Pursell, Hannah F. Summers, Harriet Woodrow, Stephen Woodrow, and Enoch and Elizabeth Witt.. In 1871 a frame building for church purposes was constructed, costing about three thousand dollars; October 15, 1872, it was dedicated by Rev. J. C. Otis, of Glenwood. The pastors have been W. A. Cain, J. R. Shankafelt, J. W. Roe, O. T. Conger and A. Rhodes. The society is a very strong one, numbering some two hundred and forty-nine members. It was formed by the disbanding of the Silver Creek Baptist church, an organization which dates back to December 26, 1857. It thus has the prestige of age, and has been extremely successful in its work for the moral well-being of the community.

THE MALVERN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH was organized March 10, 1872. The members at that date were W. D. Evans, William and Martha Black, Helen Black, A. P. Provost, Elijah Wood, Julia A. Wood, J. S. Gulick, Clara A. Gulick, S. T. Brothers, E. A. Brothers, S. J. Moss and J. A. Covert. In 1874-75 a frame church building was constructed costing five thousand five hundred dollars. February 20, 1876, it was dedicated to the worship of God by the Rev. T. S. Cleland, jr. The pastors who have served the church have been Charles Mervin, James R. Brown and W. J. Wilson. The membership is now seventy-four. This church is out of debt entirely, and on a solid financial basis. The building it erected was the first put up by that denomination in the county.

LIBERTY CHURCH, PROTESTANT METHODIST, is an organization which dates from 1857, when it was commenced by a William Tipton, an early preacher in the county. In 1874 a frame building was put up on section six, and dedicated to divine worship in February 1875, by E. S. Brown. The first pastor was G. W. Robinson, and the present incumbent is Rev. Mr. Childs. The original members were Cynthis E. Wyatt, Luke Tip