Fort St. Marys was erected here in 1795 by General "Mad" Anthony Wayne, probably after the signing of the Greenville Treaty, on land ceded by the Indians. This area was also the site of the signing of the Treaty of St. Marys in 1818, with the Indian campsites to the south and west of this spot. Before the fort, and a little south of it, stood the dugout and cabin of James Girty, one of the notorious Girty Brothers, which gave rise to the area's original name, "Girty's Town."