Alexander and Margaret (Dickson) Garrett were the first settlers to establish a permanent home in what was first El Paso and later renamed Derby, Kansas. In 1869, the area was considered Indian Territory, specifically Osage Trust Lands, and was frequented by transient traders, trappers, and travelers. Drawn by reports that it was “the garden spot of Kansas,” the Garretts left Ohio and traveled about 1,000 miles by covered wagon. In the spring of 1869, they stopped at Spring Creek just northwest of this location, and land that is now Garrett Park formed part of their original homestead. Both Alexander and Margaret Garrett filed claims so they would have enough acreage to farm, and they built a small sod house near the creek. Soon after their arrival, their daughter Anna was born. After railroad track was built in 1879, more settlers claimed homesteads and began forming a farming community that grew into a town officially incorporated as El Paso in 1871. Since the 1980s, when the Red Horse unit at McConnell Air Force Base constructed Garrett Park, the park has hosted softball and baseball leagues, tournaments, and recreational play, and its driveway was named Red Horse Drive in honor of the civil engineering group.