n the early 1800s, the area was dominated by the Imlay farm, which occupied most of the land from present-day Imlay Street west to the north branch of the Park River, and from Farmington Avenue south to the Park River. John Hooker and his brother-in-law Francis Gillette purchased the pasture and woodland from William Imlay in 1853 for the purpose of developing the real

The area was initially settled in the late 1790s upon the arrival of brothers Joseph and Andrew Barnett,[6] as well as their brother-in-law Samuel Scott, who together established the first settlement at the confluence of the Sandy Lick and Mill Creeks in the area now known as Port Barnett.