The first permanent settlers came in 1868 to Ellsworth Township and Luther was officially established in 1882. The Luther area consists of Ellsworth Township, Dover, North and South Newkirk Townships of Lake County. This area is also the former Luther Agriculture School District.

Settlers homesteaded land in this area under the newly provised Homestead Act of 1862 under President Lincoln. Civil War veterans were given first choice of such land. Henry Allen did such, followed by friends, on the Pine River.  His settlement was later called Ne-Bone-Shone. In 1868 Civil War veterans from Pennsylvania, John Nelson, A. Burdick and A. Hoover homesteaded in sec.1 and 11, adjacently, in Ellsworth Township. They were followed the same year by J.J. Raymond and Ernest Nichoson Family settling in southern Ellsworth Township.