From the 1882 & 1907 Pottawattamie County Histories
James township is bounded on the north by Pleasant, east by Valley, south by Belknap and west by York townships.It is drained by Big Silver Creek and the West Botna and its tributaries. It is named in honor of Stephen James, a brother of Judge W. C. James.
The first road in the township was the Ballard road, which ran north-easterly from Council Bluffs past the eight mile grove and through Newtown and to the southern part of Audubon county, where Dr. Ballard had large tracts of land.
Although it has no town of its own, it is in close touch with Hancock, Oakland, Minden or Avoca. Township officers in 1907 were: Trustees, H. O. Bain, Henry Nicolai, and G. S. Cutchall; clerk, C. C. Smith; justices of the peace, S. W. Rounds and Otto Zoeller; constable, Charles G. Butterbaugh; assessor, Titus Fehr. The school board was composed of the following: S. D. Blakely, M. F. Brown & A. G. Simon.