Spring Hill, Kansas

Spring Hill is a city in Johnson and Miami counties in the U.S. state of Kansas. It is part of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. In 2020, 7,952 people lived there. History In 1856, James B. Hovey named the community after a town near Mobile, Alabama. Hovey was the community's first postmaster. Hovey built the first building in town in 1856. It was the Spring Hill Hotel. In January 1859, Celia Ann Dayton, a doctor from Vermont, moved to Spring Hill. She became the first female doctor in Kansas. In the fall of 1862, Spring Hill was not attacked by Quantrill's Raiders. This is because a farmer talked to them on their way. He convinced them there were soldiers in town. There were not any soldiers in town. This stopped them from continuing. However, in 1863, the Quantrill Raiders did come to Spring Hill. They looted businesses stole from local farmers. At least one person was killed. By the 1870s, Spring Hill was growing in number of people and commerce. However, a railroad to come right through the town wanted to go around Spring Hill unless the town paid $15,000. The people did not want to share the costs, so the railroad was moved to about a half-mile east of the town square. The town's businesses then quickly moved closer to the train depot and tracks. On May 20, 1957 around 7:00 p.m., an F5 tornado, known as the Ruskin Heights tornado, hit Spring Hill. The only deaths in Spring Hill were the Davis Family, including Isam Davis, his wife Barbara, and their daughters Tamara and Pamela. A neighbor said they were killed when they were trying to leave their home and make it to their car to get away from the tornado. Their home was completely destroyed by the tornado. Their bodies were found close to 207th Street and US 169 Highway (present day Webster Street). Davis Street in Spring Hill is named after the family. Geography Spring Hill is at 38°44′43″N 94°49′45″W (38.745316, -94.829261). The United States Census Bureau says that the city has a total area of 8.95 square miles (23.18 km2). Of that, 8.84 square miles (22.90 km2) is land and 0.11 square miles (0.28 km2) is water. People 2020 census The 2020 census says that there were 7,952 people, 2,763 households, and 2,133 families living in Spring Hill. Of the households, 78.7% owned their home and 21.3% rented their home. The median age was 35.2 years. Of the people, 88.0% were White, 2.0% were Black, 0.7% were Asian, 0.4% were Native American, 1.6% were from some other race, and 7.3% were two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 5.1% of the people. 2010 census The 2010 census says that there were 5,437 people, 1,919 households, and 1,447 families living in Spring Hill. Education Spring Hill is part of the Spring Hill School District (USD 230). Famous people Curly Brown (1888-1968), baseball pitcher Gary Burrell (1937-2019), co-founder and chairman emeritus of Garmin Stephen J. Chamberlin (1889-1971), U.S. Army Lieutenant General References Other websites City City of Spring HillArchived 2017-05-13 at the Wayback Machine Spring Hill - Directory of Public Officials Spring Hill Chamber of Commerce Schools USD 230 Archived 2019-12-10 at the Wayback Machine, local school district Maps Spring Hill City Map Archived 2020-05-04 at the Wayback Machine, KDOT