Rev. John Van Buren Flack traveled there in 1880 after hearing about the medicinal values of the spring water. The spring belonged to land owner Anthony W. Wyman. After Flack investigated the water sources, he advised Wyman to have the land platted, water analyzed, and to begin advertising the cures the water held. Flack built a home on a tract that Wyman had platted and opened the town's first dry goods store and the first church. The spring was named Excelsior after a popular Longfellow poem, which later changed to Siloam.
Rev. John Van Buren Flack: traveled there in 1880 after hearing about the medicinal values of the spring water. The spring belonged to land owner Anthony W. Wyman. After Flack inves,tigated the water sources, he advi,sed Wyman to have the land platted, water analyzed, and to begin advertising the cures the water held. Flack built a home on a tract that Wyman had platted and opened the town's first dry goods store and the first church. The spring was named Excelsior after a popular Longfellow poem, which later changed to Siloam.