Plover sits in Powhattan Township, which was first settled in 1864. The township name honors the father of Pocahontas.
In the early 1870s, the first Plover post office was constructed on what is now county road N57.
Once the railroad through the township was completed in 1882, the town of Plover was born and named by the railroad president to recognize a common bird visible along the route.
In 1885, McEwen and Garlock built the first store.
Looking around town in its early history you would have seen a bank, a hotel, a general store, a meat market, a creamery, two elevators, a doctor, a furniture store, and a weekly newspaper.
The first Plover High School was built in 1894 but burned in 1911.
The brick school house was completed by 1916.
Hope United Methodist Church in Plover was originally a wood-frame building replaced by a brick structure in 1914. That church was substantially damaged by fire 1941. Then, in 1953, a tornado struck Plover and once again the church had to be restored.
The Plover Library and Town Hall, built as a Presbyterian Church in 1888, served congregations into the 1960s before the town purchased it.
After consolidation into Havelock-Plover Community School in the late 1950s, the Plover School continued to serve elementary students until 1980.
