Near Swan Creek, Swan City was the first town and county seat in Saline County, rising quickly after its first settlement buildings, including a store and a sawmill, were constructed about 1865. In 1865, William Remington donated the land on which the town stood, and the first meeting of the Saline County Commissioners took place there at Cline's Mill on February 17, 1866. Swan City was officially platted on October 8, 1866, and grew to a community of about 200 with a thriving business section that included a hotel; the O'Connor Circus spent a few winters there. Its prominence lasted only a few years: in 1871 the county seat moved to Pleasant Hill, and as the railroad was built through the Blue River Valley two and a half miles away that same year, most of the business community relocated within two years to DeWitt or Wilber to be near the line. The flour mill, the town's last remaining vestige, continued operating until it burned in 1891, after which Swan City became a ghost town.