George Washington Swink, born in Kentucky in 1836, came to Colorado in 1871 and established a general merchandise store and trading post at a rocky ford on the Arkansas River. In 1876, when the Santa Fe Railroad was extended to Pueblo, he moved his store and family to the present site. He served as postmaster at Rocky Ford from 1875 to 1884, originated Watermelon Day in 1878, and later the famous Rocky Ford Cantaloupe. He promoted construction of irrigation systems and general farming in the Arkansas Valley, was a promoter of the Arkansas Valley Fair, served two terms as a state senator from 1892 to 1900, and personally purchased beet seed from Germany to promote Colorado's sugar beet industry, resulting in construction of the first beet sugar factory of the Arkansas Valley in 1900.