FAIRVIEW A.K.A. MAIN STATION CEMETERY

Taylor Twp.
Appanoose County, Iowa

This historical marker stands where the church was located. Google maps shows the location as Maine. The cemetery is on J-5T about a mile north of Rathbun Dam, across from the entrance to the Buck Creek Marina.

The Real Village of Main Station

Main Station was a pioneer settlement of farmers, named for W.F. Main, that became a village when the railroad came through in 1879. It had a train station with a general store and a post office that was first called Maine and then Ray, existing from 1881 - 1906. The first church began in a log cabin, which was also used for a school, and was built where the Buck Creek Marina is located. The cemetery was started in 1882 and a church was built. That church, along with many homes and buildings and even tombstones, was destroyed by the terrible tornado of May 5, 1894. Juliann McDanel, wife of Wm., died from injuries sustained when running down the tracks trying to escape the tornado. Fairview Methodist Church was built after the tornado and has now been relocated at the Moravia Historical Museum for preservation. The Showers School was located a mile east of here and is gone along with other evidence of the Main Station village.