Most early farmers in Benton Township planted sod corn for their first crop. A little later corn and oats became staple feed for hogs, sheep, horses and cattle. The more successful farmers combined grain and stock raising.

Before there were any railroads, they drove stock to Keokuk for shipment down the Mississippi [River]. At times they butchered the hogs and cattle on the farm, cured the meat and hauled it by wagon to St. Joe or Burlington.

When the Leon, Mount Ayr and Southwestern Railroad passed through Mount Ayr, Luke SHAY shipped his stock from Mount Ayr to Ottumwa (sometimes 150 carloads a year). In 1887, the St. Paul-Kansas City Railroad began building a line through the western part of the county. Settlements up and down the line vied for the stations.

Jerry SHAY and John D. CARTER donated the land for a right-of-way through their farms provided that a station be built in SHAY'S Settlement [Maloy].

The station was built, a town was platted on land owned by Jerry SHAY, lots were sold, and Maloy officially began. It was named for David MALOY, who owned land about five miles south of Maloy, near Rooster Bend.

Although livestock comprised the bulk of the early shipping, supplies for the businesses arrived regularly by rail. In a few years, passenger trains appeared, and service to Des Moines was good (if one didn't mind the smoke and cinders which came in through the opened windows!).

During the twenties, a motorized train ("the Bug") was added to the rooling stock> Consisting of an engine and two coaches, it went south about 7 a.m. and returned in the evening. Although very convenient for local travel, it was often the object of derision -- it didn't look like a train. No smoke and no steam whistle.

The bug survived, however, after competition with highways and trucks made the other train impractial.

The tracks were torn up in 1985.

SOURCE: Maloy, Iowa Centennial History: 1887 - 1987 Pp. 13, 21. 1987.

Courtesy of Mount Ayr Public Library

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, August of 2011