William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody and William Rose co-founded the town of Rome in 1867 as the predecessor of Hays. The Rome townsite lay one mile west of this point, north of the railroad track and along the west bank of Big Creek. The first steps to organize Ellis County were taken at Rome and completed in Hays on Oct. 28, 1867, and Governor Samuel J. Crawford appointed William Rose to the first Board of County Commissioners. The account also honors Cody, Rose, and pioneer settlers of Ellis County, Kansas, including Martin Allen, Justus Bissing, Rev. L. Bell, Tommy Drum, A. D. Gilkeson, Geo. Grant, Michael Haffamier, A. S. Hall, J. B. "Wild Bill" Hickok, M. E. Joyce, H. B. Kohl, Dr. J. H. Middlekauff, Simon Motz, George Philip, Alex Philip, Alex Ramsey, William Ryan, John Schlyer, W. F. Schutte, Clemens Schwaller, Rev. Fr. V. Sommereisen, M. J. R. Treat, Hill P. Wilson, H. Winters, and I. M. Yost.