From the 1882 & 1907 Pottawattamie County Histories
This township was originally called Walnut Creek, and organized in 1856; however, a petition for its organization by mistake was made to include what is now Grove and Center Township to the west of it. This gave offense to the voters in these last townships, and at the election in 1856, they came in a mass to the polls and at that time the boundaries were rectified in a proper application and duly approved by the county authorities.
Waveland is in the extreme southeast of the county and adjoins Cass County on the one hand and Montgomery County on the other. The name of the township was made to correspond with that of the post office then existing for the accommodation of the settlers.
The early settlers traveled the old Mormon trail and built log cabins with turf roofs until they could provide better habitations. They were compelled to go to the mill at Ironston, in Cass County, or to Stutsman’s Mill, near Macedonia.
There are two principal streams in the township, the East Nishnabotna, and Walnut Creek.
Township officers of 1855 were Ed Dean, John Wilson and William Mewhirter, trustees; Frederick Mewhirter, justice of the peace; Frank Hostetter, constable; and William McCarney, assessor.
Officials in 1882 were: Clarkson Godfrey, D. K. Parker and C. M. Potter, trustees; Robert Wilson, clerk; G. L. Mundorf and W. L. Cocklin, justices; William Gray, constable, and William Mewhirter, assessor.
FIRST EVENTS
- Settlers: 1854: Granvill and Joseph Pierson, W. P. Black, Johnson Brandon, William and Frederick Mewhirter; 1855: George Boyer, Peter Cocklin, John Wilson; 1857: John Flint
- Birth:William Black, 4 July 1854
- Death: Zolphes Williams, September 1854 (he was buried on the banks of the Nishnabotna River early in the morning. He and a child were the only ones interred in the burial ground in Section 14, Township 74.)
- Marriage: Levi Smith and Miss Sara Wilson in the fall of 1859
- Mill: 1857: by a man named Davenport. The second sawmill was built by Isaac Bobb on Section 13 in 1867.
- School: 1857: in the home of Mrs. Warren on Section 13. She was
followed by Mary Ann Hackin, in 1859, who held classes in an old log house in Sec 13. - School: 1861: First school house erected
- Road: was laid out from Lewis in Cass County, to Sidney, in Fremont Co.
- Bridge: built over Walnut Creek on the Walnut Creek and Wheeler’s Grove Road