The area's first settlers, the families of Louis Bohme, Charlie Jones, Gus Heard, and Laurence Pike Heard, arrived in 1875 in search of new frontiers and range lands. The first post office was called Heard, and the first school, also called Heard, opened in 1880. While digging a well in 1885, T.H. Hammer discovered the area's mineral water, which became famous for its medicinal qualities. He later sold his property to a promoter named Reagan, who built a bath house and hotel to sell the mineral water. The Baptist church, founded in 1906, was the first local house of worship. A later correction recorded that Heard's name was spelled Lawrence Pike Heard.