Spring Hill, the second largest town of Johnson county, is located just north of the southern boundary on the St. Louis & San Francisco R. R., 9 miles south of Olathe, the county seat. The town was surveyed on May 18, 1857, and was named after Spring Hill, Ala., by James B. Hovey, the first settler. In Jan., 1858, a town company was formed with J. B. Hovey, president, and A. B. Simmons, secretary. The first building was the Spring Hill Hotel, built by Mr. Hovey in the summer of 1857. The postoffice was established that fall with Mr. Hovey as the first postmaster. The first store was opened in the winter of 1857-58, and in the spring of 1858 the Methodist church was organized. In 1869 the railroad reached the southern boundary of the county but as the town would not contribute the sum demanded by the company, the road was built a half mile east of the town and the nearest stopping place was Ocheltree, 2 miles north. For some time the trains would not stop at Spring Hill and the residents went to Ocheltree for their mail. The matter was finally adjusted and a station built. The first independent school house was built in 1858, and school was taught by Mrs. Duvall. On Dec. 7, 1870, the Spring Hill Enterprise was established as a Republican paper, but in 1872 it changed hands and became known as the Western Progress. Spring Hill now has several general stores, a dry goods store, furniture, hardware, drug and implement houses, 2 hotels, agricultural implement dealers, lumber yard, a money order postoffice, telegraph and express facilities, and is a shipping point for the rich farming community by which it is surrounded. The population in 1910 was 700.