The Hull area was surveyed in 1856, one decade later Webster Merrill
built a log cabin in the area and became the first resident; other
settlers gradually settled in the community by 1873. Several large
railroads, such as the Chicago, Milwaukee & St Paul railroads
reached the town site, specifically the Nelson Rombough homestead on Nov
24, 1878. Around this time the town was named Pattersonville, after
John G. Patterson.
Soon after this time streets were laid out to construct a 25 block
area, many of these street names still exist today, such as Main, Maple,
Walnut, Chestnut and Elm.
The first hotel and several churches arrived in the town in 1884, at
this time 200 people lived in the Pattersonville area. George Ireland
was elected as Hull’s first mayor in 1886. It was also in this year that
the town name was changed to Hull, after John A. T. Hull (John Albert
Tiffin Hull), as a local vote of choice over Winland, a name the
Railroad tried to implement.