After Crawford County was established in Southeast Kansas on February 13, 1867, Dr. Charles H. Strong, a native of Girard, Pennsylvania, went deer hunting while also hoping to locate the county's geographical center. When a deer jumped from the grass, he shot it and drove a stake where it fell, placing on it a card and a bunch of grass declaring that he had taken the land and that Girard would be located there, naming it in honor of his hometown of Girard, Pennsylvania.