Of the smaller villages of Lyon county. Garvin is one of the most important and has a number of business enterprises that would he a credit to more pretentious places. It is a station on the Dakota Central division of the Chicago & Northwestern railroad, aboul midway between Tracy and Balaton, and is on the southeast quarter of section 27, Custer township.

Although the railroad was built in 1879 the station was not established that early and the site was not entitled to a place on the map until 1886. Four years earlier a side track had been laid there and in railroad circles the site was known as Siding No. 7.  The siding became known as Terry in the spring of 1886, and on April 30 the Terry townsite was platted by the railroad company. It was surveyed by C. C. Pudor and was dedicated by Albert Keep, as president of the Winona St. Peter Railroad Company. Two blocks only were included in the original plat. The streets were named First, Sherman, Grant and Sheridan. 

In the fall of 1886 the postoffice was established and for some time the office was at the home of William R. Owens. the postmaster.  The station bore the name Terry only about one year and was then renamed Kent. The first building erected at the station was a flathouse put up by a Mr. Seefield in 1887. H. L. Green was employed as grain buyer by Mr. Seefield. He lived in one end of the flathouse and stored grain in the other. About 1889 the flathouse was replaced by an elevator and Mr. Green continued as grain buyer several years.

The name of the station was changed from Kent to Garvin, in honor of H. C. Garvin, traveling freight agent of the railroad, in July. 1891. Until business houses were founded there, however. the place was generally referred to as Seefield, after the owner of the elevator. The second structure on the site was a business building put up by William Owen-, in which he opened a store. He conducted the store a few years and then sold to Annie Shand. About the time that William Owens erected his store building he and his brother, Owen Owens, each built dwelling houses in the village.

After selling the pioneer store, William Owens and his brother put up another building and established the second general store. About the same time Andrew Anderson erected a small building and engaged in the blacksmith business. Other enterprises followed and the village of Garvin gradually developed. It has had a steady growth and each year witnesses additions to the town.

Garvin has an excellent school, with three instructors and about eighty-five pupils. Before the village of Garvin was founded, on December 3, 1879, district No. 47 was organized. 18 The first teacher of the school was Annie G. Shand and the first officers of the district were E. H. Cutts, clerk; Thomas L. Harris, treasurer; and Daniel Willford, director. A two-room school house was built in 1901 and that was replaced in 1911 by a four-room brick school house, erected at a cost of $11,500. The present instructors are Eunice Davis, principal; Agnes Peterson and Clara Jacobson.

Others who taught the Garvin school since 1897 have been- N. S. Peterson, Arthur O. Dillon, Glenola Collins, Elizabeth Carlysle, Hannah Johnson, Etta A. Lucas, Myrtle Ladd, S. S. Swanson, H. R. Painter, Mrs. H. R. Painter, Rose Osborn, Ida Amundson, Clara Welty, C. H. Webb, Edith M. Engstrom, Leona Blanchard and Delia Cook.

The First Congregational Church of Garvin was organized in 1891 with only eight members, as follows: John N. Jones, William W. Jones, Annie P. Jones, Mary Anne Jones, Edith Owens, Thomas T. Jones, Evan M. Jones and Maggie Jones. The first deacons were William W. Jones and Evan M. Jones and the pastor was Rev. Edward Thomas. 21 The church was erected in 1899 and the value of the church property is now $4000. The membership is seventy- eight, comprising twenty families. A Sunday School with seventy-five members is maintained in connection. 

One of the institutions of Garvin is the creamery, which was built by the farmers of the vicinity and put in operation in June, 1899. The Garvin Creamery Company manufactures 200,- 000 pounds of butter per year and dis- tributes about $60,000 per year among the farmers of the vicinity. P. O. Anderson is the buttermaker and has had charge of the creamery for the past eight years. The officers of the com- pany are as follows: Thomas D. Phil- lips, president: W. W. Jones, secretary; E. M. Jones, treasurer; Ellsworth Evans, J. J. Thomas. E. J. Davis and D. I). Jones, directors.

From "The Illustrated History of Lyons County" by Arthur P. Rose Copyright 1912