George Bardsley lived on this site from 1869 to 1879. An early-day saloonkeeper, restauranteur, and County Commissioner, he was elected Ellis County Sheriff in 1875 after a bitter contest with Jack Bridges. On September 1, 1876, north of Park, Kansas, he captured Isaac “Big Ike” Cramer and four other members of “Dutch Henry” Borne’s horse-thieving gang, and shortly afterward he was named Deputy U.S. Marshal. On September 26, 1877, just south of Park, he killed Joel Collins, leader of a gang of train robbers later headed by Sam Bess, and recovered nearly a third of the sixty thousand dollars in gold the gang had robbed at Big Springs, Nebraska. In November, John Schlyer defeated him at the polls.