The first settlers of Lyons arrived in the summer of 1866. Fertile soil in the Logan Valley and access to the railroad after 1881 secured the town's future. Incorporated in 1884, the village was named for Waldo Lyon, a prominent citizen whose land was platted for the town. Residents continued to observe a provision in Lyon's deed that liquor could not be sold within the town or the property could be forfeited. The Lyons Roller Mill was built in 1869 as a three-story structure powered by water from a dam across Logan Creek just west of town, and it operated until 1931. Many town buildings were made from bricks produced at a brick yard that began operating in 1878, and the swimming pool occupies the depression where the clay was dug. In 1891, one of the country's finest trotting tracks, called The Kite Track, opened one-fourth mile west of Lyons, where famous horses set world records and won large purses before hard times ended racing after 1893.