[1] The town was built in 1923 by the Bowman-Hicks Lumber Company, a large Southern firm with timber and mills in Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi.

In keeping with the Jim Crow practices common in the South at that time, Maxville had segregated neighborhoods, schools and baseball teams.

[2] The southern Bowman-Hicks Lumber Company was looking to profit from the abundant logging opportunity in the Pacific Northwest.

Due to Jim Crow laws, the town segregated African Americans from Caucasians, including schools, homes and baseball teams.

[citation needed] Maxville was work-centric, having many job opportunities for the locals within the woods, mills, farms, ranches and more.

The town had very few leisure facilities, the most common form of entertainment and time spent off work being to hunt and fish.

Each year at the beginning of August, the Annual Maxville Gathering is held at the Wallowa County Fairgrounds, aiming to raise awareness of the town's history.

In 2012, a grant was awarded to Marv and Rindy Ross to create the fictional musical project, "On Higher Ground", based on Maxwell's history.