Historical Documents

Title: Which Walter Hill?

"Which Walter Hill?"

Popular tradition has it that Walthill was named for Walter J. Hill, youngest son of railroad magnate James J. Hill. Hill family records show that the younger Hill, only 20 at the time, was in Nebraska in 1905 buying horses. He was apparently sent here to supervise construction of the Sioux City-Ashland railroad on which the new town was founded that year.

Walter J. Hill was not the apple of his father’s eye. He liked fast cars, wasn’t much a businessman, and married four times, including once to his first wife’s sister, once to his brother’s sister-in-law, and once to former Ziegfeld Follies Star. His serious side included a love of cattle breeding, and he lived much of his life on farms and ranches in northern Minnesota and Montana.

But there was another Walter Hill in the area at the time the town was founded. Walter Henry Hill arrived in 1892, lived near the Pilcher settlement west of Walthill, farmed, taught school in Walthill, and served as a county supervisor before retiring to California. According to his grandson, Walter Henry Hill was also a hog buyer for Perry Brothers and Cooper and asked the railroad to install a rail siding to improve hog shipping. It was done, and the railroad called it the “Walt Hill Switch.” A small community grew up around the switch, and came to be known as Walthill.

Which story do you prefer?