The first post office in the Wayne County town of Humeston opened January 8, 1873. It was located in the store owned by Alva Humeston, who was not only the namesake for the community but also the town’s first postmaster. The post office currently occupies a storefront within the IOOF building to serve the community of 494 residents.
Located three miles north of Lineville in rural Wayne County, the Pleasant Hill Rural School building was constructed in 1881. For years, it maintained a “Tickle Grass” nickname and was panted white; in the 1940s, a red coat of paint was applied, and the one-room school building became known by locals as the “Little Red Schoolhouse.” The school’s last year of operation was 1957.
The schoolhouse served as a roadside park in the 1960s, with the state of Iowa adding a 90-foot driveway across the ground. Picnic tables were provided by the Wayne County Conservation Board, while the Wayne County Historical Society was responsible for maintenance efforts.
In 1851 a pioneer merchant Alexander Faulkner built a store in the Wayne County community now known as Lineville. Half of the store was in Missouri while half was in Iowa. To adhere to state laws, he Missouri portion of the store sold liquor while the Iowa part of the store sold clothing and groceries. Originally founded as Grand River, the name of Lineville was adapted in 1871.
Postal service was established in the Wayne County, Iowa, community of Promise City in August 1856. When service was discontinued in the nearby towns of Clio and Millerton in 2006, Promise City became the smallest city in the county with an active post office location. The 2000 census indicated 105 residents, down from a peak population of 274 in 1910.
Corydon is one of several small county seats along the states’s southern border with Hy-Vee grocery store serving the community. Hy-Vee, which can trace its roots to a short-lived Beaconsfield supply store just two counties away, has had a presence in the Wayne County community of Corydon since 1939, when a the “Corydon Supply Store” opened on the west side of the town square in 1939. The Hy-Vee name was applied to the store in the 1950s as part of a company-wide rebranding effort.
The location operated consecutively for nearly 17 years before a downtown fire temporarily closed the store and burned three nearby buildings in August 1956. The store was subsequently moved to a new downtown location on State Highway 2, on the south side of the square, reopening just 70 days after the previous store burned. The Corydon Hy-Vee was relocated to its present (pictured) location in 1969, in a new building just east of downtown on Highway 2. The 9,000-square-feet building is open daily from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.