However, by the next year, several business buildings had been erected and streets laid out. A grain elevator was built in 1879 by two men by the name of Jung and Giessler. The O'Connell & Foote lumber yard was established which carried a full line of building supplies. The two also later built a hotel called the Wisconsin House, as well as a two-story building, which contained a mercantile store on the lower level and housed the post office. A farmer named John Riley soon began to sell farm machinery, and later built a livery stable. Other businesses included a lime kiln called Graham & Beths, and a blacksmith shop owned by M. Mahoney. The Black Wolf School was built in 1880.

The Black Wolf Coal Mine was located two miles south of the town in the bluffs near Black Wolf Creek. This and other mines located along the Smoky Hill River, were never large operations, as the coal was situated near the surface and sold only locally. However, the local coal would be utilized for several decades.

By 1910, the town boasted a population of 100 people, a money order post office, telegraph and express offices, telephone connections, a grain elevator, and good local trade. However, just ten years later, the population had dropped dramatically and the town was already working to revive itself. A sign was posted in 1920 stating:

    Black Wolf

    Population 45

    Speed limit 101 M.

    Watch us Grow

    Air and Water Free

In the 1920s, Black Wolf gained national attention when two masked robbers walked into the Black Wolf State Bank and demanded cash from cashier Ray Artas, who was at the bank alone. At the moment of the robbery, Mrs. Artas, who worked at the bank as a bookkeeper, arrived. Her husband told her to leave “Fast! This is a hold up!” However, she refused, thinking her husband was joking. The robbers locked the Artases in the vault and made their escape with $500 in cash.

Though the town of Black Wolf had suffered previous floods, the worst came in 1938 when high flood waters descending from the Smoky Hill River. Though the elevators and the Black Wolf store tried to pump the water out of the places, it was impossible, as the flood reached a crest of 12 feet above the river bridge. For days, the only way to get around the town was by boat.

For years, Black Wolf was noted for its Saturday night dances. In the summer, they were held on outdoor platforms, in colder weather inside a machinery barn. These large dances usually lasted until daybreak so the people could see their way home. When electricity finally arrived in Black Wolf in 1945, the popular dances began to break up by about 2:00 a.m.  Sunday afternoons were slated for baseball games, which were held in a cow pasture just south of the Black Wolf Bridge.