Garard/Martin Station, 1790

Side A: Site of the first fortified settlement in Anderson Township and one of the first in the Virginia Military District. John Garard and Joseph Martin were the founders of this Station, who, with Elias Garard, Joseph Frazee, and others, came by two flatboats with families and livestock from Garards Fort, Pennsylvania, via the Ohio and Little Miami rivers. They landed here on December 23, 1790, and proceeded to erect the fortification.(Continued on other side) Side B: (Continued from other side) Other early inhabitants include the families of Captain James Flinn, Stephen Betts, Joseph Williamson, Stephen Davis, Richard Hall, Jacob Bachofen, and John Corbly, Jr. Three years later, in 1793, Anderson Township was officially established with the first Township officers coming from the Garard/Martin Station. A private militia was formed to protect early settlers from Indian attacks until well after the Greenville Treaty of 1795. The Station was later disbanded as new settlements in the area emerged.