Spring Hill, Illinois

14 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1899 and the latest in 1984. It stands in Portland Township. It lies in ZIP code area 61250. The Survey maps it on the Spring Hill quadrangle.

Spring Hill within Whiteside County

Topographic sheets covering this place

8 surveys from 14 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

1899 USGS Clinton quadrangle1:125000
1899 USGS Cordova quadrangle1:125000, 4 printings
1952 USGS Erie quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
1958 USGS Davenport quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
1961 USGS Davenport quadrangle1:250000
1962 USGS Davenport quadrangle1:250000
1982 USGS Spring Hill quadrangle1:24000
1984 USGS Davenport quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings

In the county-history sources

4,392 words on this township

Portrait and Biographical Album of Whiteside County, Illinois : Containing Full-page Portraits and Biographies of All the Governors of Illinois, and of the Presidents of the United States, published 1885 names this settlement in its chapter on Portland Township. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

In 1836 some 20 families came in, among them Levi Fuller, Sr., with a family often children. From this time on the population of Portland Township rapidly increased. Simon Fuller located on section 15, Horace Burke on section 16. Ebenezer Seely, more familiarly known as Col. Seely, made a claim afterwards on section 6, in what is now Prophetstown Township, in the history of which more particular mention will be made. Norman Seely, in 1835, planted the first crop.

Passage source: Portrait and Biographical Album of Whiteside County, Illinois : Containing Full-page Portraits and Biographies of All the Governors of Illinois, and of the Presidents of the United States, published 1885.

The first school taught in the township was by D. F. Cole, at the house of Simon Fuller, on section 15, in the winter of 1836-7. The first death is reported to be that of a son of Alonzo Brooks, who died in 1837. The first birth was a daughter to the wife of Norman B. Seely, in the fall of 1834. She was named Mary. The second birth was a daughter of Alexander J. and Philena Seely, a year later.

Col. Seely started the first saw-mill in the township, which was located on section i. He organized a company, consisting of himself, R. M. and P. B. Besse, A. Adams, D. D. Dickinson and George Paddock. This was a steam-power mill, and their engine was purchased at Springfield, Mass. A stone was afterwards put in and grists were ground. This mill commenced sawing lumber in 1852. An effort was made to start a town here, which was called Port land ; and when the route for the Clinton Branch of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad was being laid out, strong exertions were made to secure the line through this town, but Prophetstown got it, and the road then deflected to the northward. The trading place now is chiefly at Spring Hill and Prophetstown. Portland is a good agricultural township, and is among the first in raising stock.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Portland Township - it names this place 4 more 4 times.

Fires near this place

1 since 2020

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 1 fire within 5 miles of Spring Hill in 2020, burning about 19 acres in total. None started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Debris and open burning	1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
5 April 2020	Debris and open burning	19 acres	Illinois Division of Forestry Resources	20-056

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Whiteside County

Mines and quarries near this place

2 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Spring Hill: 2 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where	Site	Commodity	Status	Recorded
	C. Johnson Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
	Erie Township Highway Department	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Past Producer

Every working recorded in Whiteside County

Storms near this place

2 since 2011

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Spring Hill in 2 storm reports between 2011 and 2018: 2 hail. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
May 2018	Hail	Spring Hill	-	A public reported hail to the size of 1.25 inches in diameter.
May 2011	Hail	Spring Hill	-	Golf ball sized hail fell about 3 miles southwest of Portland Corners, IL around 245 pm CDT May 24. The hail storm lasted about 20 minutes.

Every storm recorded in Whiteside County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Place	Distance	Sheets
Jefferson Corners	3.5 miles	11
Erie	3.5 miles	14
Portland	4.9 miles	11
Pratt (historical)	6.0 miles	11
Leon Corners	6.7 miles	11
Denrock	7.1 miles	11
Prophetstown	7.1 miles	11
Mineral Springs (historical)	7.6 miles	14

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 418962. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.