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CHARLES GLANDVILLE MAXWELL
Charles Maxwell was well-known in Indianola in the
early 1900s. He was born June 11, 1868 and passed away at his home in
Indianola April 26, 1935. In our research library there is a simple, 8-
page remembrance, including pictures, put together by his wife, Ruth
Fortney Maxwell.
Mr. Maxwell came to Indianola from Chariton. He was
closely associated with the building program of Indianola and with the
Harlan Lumber Company for 35 years, a charter member and the first
president of the Rotary Club, and a Mason and member of Warren Lodge 53.
His passion for flowers, trees and shrubs led to 18 years as a member of
the city park board. The “Maxwell Gardens” were frequently visited and
admired by friends.
When he died in 1935 from heart attack, the
Indianola Park Board had this to say, “His work is finished but the
movement he began and fostered more than twenty years ago, when there
were few to cooperate with him, has borne a rich harvest and one that
will blossom and bear fruit as long as time goes on.
The Indianola Herald described him as “a prominent
citizen and business man and one who championed civic improvement in
every phase probably more than any other. The idea he fostered… has
become established and today the home or public building which is not
landscaped is the exception rather than the rule.
Better than monuments erected in his memory or eulogies spoken of
his life, is the enduring desire which he created in others, to make the
beauty of nature with trees, shrubs and flowers a part of our homes.”
Ruth Maxwell, his wife wrote this poem about her
husband:
Though memory of you seems to be so clear
That you might come if I but spoke your name.
Yet remembrance and the fact are not the same.
There are so many things that I hold dear
Of what you did and loved when you were here:
Your toiling in your garden till its fame
Had spread and friends and even strangers came
To view the beauty spot and the cheer
It brought to all who saw, and shards like these:
Your gestures when you talked and your ready
smile;
The way you dreaded winter’s chill in fall;
Your love of growing things – the flowers, the
trees;
Your thoughtfulness and kindness all the while –
Dear scattered fragments beside a high stone
wall.
Since the early days of Indianola there have been
many active citizens who take their civic responsibilities seriously.
Their names are forgotten but the results of their efforts are all
around us and will be felt by many generations in the future.