 The town was laid out in 1857 by Dennis Quigley and platted on May 21, 1860, but remained of little importance until the coming of the railroad in 1874.The town was not officially incorporated until 1907.Around this time, it had three general stores, a bank, blacksmith shop, Catholic church (built in 1909; torn down in 1990), German Lutheran church (damaged by the May 1999 Volga River flood and later moved to higher ground), an independent school district and a creamery.