Probably the first white settler was John Jenkins, who came in 1838 and settled on the farm adjoining Central City known as the Ormus Clark farm. In 1839 Joseph Clark bought the farm of Jenkins, he being a son-in-law of Clark. It lies to the southwest of Central City, and a portion of it lies within the corporation. It is now owned by C. C. Crane.
In the winters of 1838-1840 a few trappers wintered along the banks of the Wapsie, but the names of no permanent settlers are recorded.
In the spring of 1840 two young men, natives of Maine, landed in Maine township. They had left their state two years before and stopped at Peoria, Illinois, working there through the summer, and going south in the winter where they worked in the cotton yards of New Orleans. Returning from New Orleans in the spring of 1840 they bought three yoke of cattle, a big prairie plow, and what other necessaries they needed, and headed for the Mississippi river. Crossing it they drove on and on until arriving one evening at the place known as "Jordan's Grove" they camped for the night. The next morning they cooked breakfast, and while one of them went out to gather up the cattle, the other took his bearings, and when the cattle were brought up he had the plow out of the wagon. On inquiry from his partner as to what he was about he said, "This looks good to me. Hitch onto the plow." These two young men were L. D. Jordan and Ed McKinney. They broke enough to hold their claims, went to Dubuque and filed on them, returned, built cabins, went back to Maine and married sisters, returned and made homes, and Mr. Jordan lived his whole life on the spot where he unloaded the plow, dying there in 1890. McKinney moved from the neighborhood some years before his death. They both lived to be old men.
In 1840 the Heaton family came, and P. A. and Will Heaton still live in Central City, together with two or three of the women of the family.
In October, 1844, Chandler Jordan arrived at his brother's place. He remained all night, and in the morning got on a horse and rode north through the grove to the brow of the hill overlooking the Wapsie valley.
It was beautiful Indian summer. All was purple, yellow, and gold, and the blue-joint grass stood as high as the back of his horse all the way down the valley. He gazed fascinated, rode slowly down the valley of a small creek that meandered from its source in the grove, to the river. In a level place on the bank of the creek he stopped, staked out a claim, returned, went to Dubuque and filed on it, came back and began improvements.
He broke the ground and raised crops, and in the spring of 1847 built a cabin on the spot where he first dismounted, and married Sarah D. Waterhouse in June. They went at once to the cabin and began housekeeping. Later they built more commodious quarters, and in 1860 erected the brick house in which they both died in 1909.
Harvey Powell came in 1844 also, and entered a fine tract of land on the ridge west of Central City, where he lived to a good old age.
In 1846 N. C. Gillilan came; Jennings Crawford in 1854, and the Haas family in the early fifties.
About this time settlers began coming in so rapidly that honorable mention can not be made of all of them, even if they could be traced. It can readily be seen that the earliest settlers coming from the state of Maine gave the name to the township. They were a sturdy lot of pioneers, determined to win success from their surroundings. They knew no such word as fail or can't. They knew no surcease from labor, but toiled on without murmur or complaint.