The first settlers in what is now Spencer arrived in Emmetsburg in the Winter of 1865. Most of the men were Union veterans of the Civil War from Wisconsin and were claiming land under the Homestead Act of 1862. While in Emmetburg, they were told of Spencer Grove and decided it would make a nice place to establish their homesteads. These first families arrived in Spencer Grove in May 1866 and were joined by another wave of settlers later that Summer. On September 20, 1866, Spencer Grove Township was formally organized; one of the benefits was the residents being able to vote locally rather than traveling twenty miles to Peterson, the County Seat and only incorporated town in Clay County. In October 1866, Spencer Grove resident Romanzo Coates was elected as Superintendent of Clay County Common Schools; he established the first schoolhouse on the upper level of his cabin and appointed his wife as the first schoolteacher.