From the late 1800s to 1904, this land was owned by retired Indian Agent Major Ashley Morrill, who had several roads built on the property. One road led from his lavish three-story mansion near the road bridge over Little Elk River to a quiet spot on the river north of here. Morrill's mansion burned to the ground in 1894, and a second, more extravagant house was built the same year. Morrill died in 1904, and the house was sold soon after. Its lavishness became its downfall because the next homeowners could not afford to maintain it. The house was vacated, vandalized during its abandonment, and purchased in 1942 and torn down, leaving only two short stone columns still visible from Grouse Road.