Council Hill Township

Jo Daviess County, Illinois

The Township of Council Hill is said to have been quite a resort for the Indian tribes, and there are various legends as to councils or, as the early settlers called them, "pow-wows" having been held there. Its earliest settler was probably John Batty, who, it is claimed, built the first blast furnace for the reduction of lead ore that was ever built in America. Patrick Hogan and Ezekiel Lockwood, Simon Alderson, Mr. Branton and Richard Arthur came later. There are within the township two villages, neither of which has ever been incorporated, one being called Council Hill and the other Council Hill Station on the line of the Illinois Central Railroad. The latter place, however, is now called Lupton in honor of one of her prominent citizens. There is considerable business done at both villages and vast quantities of lead ore have been taken from the mines in this township.