Prior to settlement, Native American presence was evident in this vicinity. What is now Freeport, west of the Allegheny River, did not belong to Pennsylvania until the purchase of 1784. The Depreciation Lands surveyed from this purchase were sold to raise money for Pennsylvania's Revolutionary War veterans. William and David Todd took patents on September 16, 1786, for two tracts in Elders 5th District: Lot 70, Union, containing 348 and 1/2 acres, and Lot 71, Friendship, containing 302 acres. The Todds obtained full ownership of both lots and the island along the Allegheny, Todds Island, in 1796, and the town of Freeport was laid out at that time. It contained 135 lots, 66 by 159 feet, facing Water Street, now Riverside Drive, Market Street, and Mulberry Alley, and these streets intersected First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Streets. Over the next three decades, the town became a brisk commercial center because of the river and the Pennsylvania Canal. Freeport was incorporated as a borough from Buffalo Township, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, on April 8, 1833.