Harmon Hinkle (Henkle) came in 1858, a carpenter and son of an early settler and storekeeper from Richmond, Iowa.   He bought an 80-acre farm just a mile north of the town that would soon be named for him.  For a year he handled merchandise and goods on commission from Nathan Littler of Richmond, the start of a nearly lifelong partnership in diverse businesses such as banking, merchandising, furniture and lumber.  In early 1861, the 28 year-old Hinkle traded his farm for Rock's sawmill, and soon built his house and the Pioneer General Store of Hinkle and Littler.  By 1863, there were additional stores, a post office, stage stop, bank, a wagon maker,  blacksmith, grain and implement dealer, doctor's office, cobbler, a school and two lodges, and the town became know as Hinkletown.  A booming lumber and brick manufacturing business occurred in town during the Civil War, and made Hinkle a rich man.  As long as the Diamond Trail had westward traffic, Hinkletown was a thriving little community, with approximately 200 residents. The business district reached its peak in the 1870s.  

In 1872, the railroad went through 9 miles south, and Harmon Hinkle gathered many of his business associates and helped to found the new town of Keota, Iowa, opening the first general store, bank, hardware and lumberyard there. That was the first big blow to Hinkletown.  But the Irish neighborhood grew, and they built a church at Little Creek in 1875.  A second setback came in 1879, when another railroad was constructed four miles south, despite the petitioning of Hinkletown residents to bring the railroad here.  Several of the residents physically moved their houses and businesses to the new town of Kinross, Iowa, creating some of the first homes and businesses there.  Others moved one mile east, to the settlement of Greene Valley, where the Foote Post Office was moved from Hinkletown around 1886.  Yet another railroad, a north-south line, was constructed five miles west of Hinkletown, through North English, and also creating the new town of Parnell, Iowa.  During this time, many of the remaining residents moved to Parnell and North English.  

Over a period of approximately 50 years, Hinkletown grew, boomed, and went bust. According to the 1890 Rand McNally Atlas, Hinkletown had dwindled to a population of 44 residents.  Brick manufacturing and a general store operated until the early 1900s.  Foote Post Office shut down in 1903.  The Hickory Ridge School closed its doors in 1949.   St. Patrick's Church was dismantled in 1965.  

Today, very little exists that would indicate a booming prairie town operated during the Civil War era.  The area had once been home to several lodges and organizations, including Masonic (1863), Odd Fellows (1875), Grange Hall (1874), Knights of the Golden Circle (1863), The Union Horse Company (1869), The Ancient Order of Hibernians (1875), Rebekahs (1880s), the Merry Mixers (women's club, 1940) and the Greene Township Women's Club (1950).  A few new homes have been built among the cornfields, and the broader area has become known as Greene Valley, an expanse of land surrounding the two branches of the English River, which converge near the old town site of Green Valley, a mile to the east.