The only road in the area in 1854, the year that Kansas Territory was opened to settlement, the Military Road passed at this location. To the Southeast was the Devil's Elbow Crossing of Elbo Creek, a name applied by army teamsters, describing the sharp turn in the road, diffiuclt for 4 and 6 mule govenrment teams to negotiate.
On the bluffs to the Northwest, above the Big Blue River, Kack-Kack, Pottawatomie Chief, planned the ambush of a Pawnee War Party in 1850. The Pawnees lost over 40 warriors. The Pawnees disappeared northward over the prairies, and never more made a foray below the Big Blue, leaving the Pottawatomie to forever live in peace.