In 1871, Dr. Henry Clay Tucker arrived in this area from Ohio and began practicing medicine, often swimming across the Arkansas River to tend patients west of the river because no bridge existed. In 1873, growing population in El Paso, Kansas, later renamed Derby in 1956, created the need for a bridge to replace ferrying people, wagons, and cattle across the river. After W. J. Hobson secured long timbers for the pilings, the El Paso Bridge opened to the public, but many townspeople avoided its tolls and continued to ford the river north of the bridge at a rocky area known as the rocky ford, which became the basis for the name Rockford Township. After the bridge eventually washed away, Rockford Township voters approved $5,000 in bonds in 1878 to build a new bridge. Several bridges have since been built at this site, which remains the original Arkansas River crossing for the first residents of Derby and areas south. In 2000, Sedgwick County built the current Purple Heart Bridge in honor of military sacrifices for the nation’s freedom, and in 2018 the City of Derby opened Warren Riverview Park, honoring Ray and Virginia Warren for their commitment to outdoor family activities, Boy Scouts, and the Derby community since 1955; the park site had previously served the city for decades with wastewater treatment and public works facilities.