The site that became Waco functioned originally as an agricultural village of the Waco Indians on the Brazos River, later occupied by relocated Cherokee settlers. Its first Anglo-American function was military: in 1837 Texas Rangers established Fort Fisher, a small outpost on the site meant to protect the frontier, though it was abandoned within months. Through the mid-1840s the location served as an informal trading post and crossing point, with traders and settlers such as George Barnard and Neil McLennan operating there before any formal town existed. The site's function shifted decisively in 1849, when land agent Jacob De Cordova, who had acquired the old village tract, had surveyor George B. Erath lay out a formal townsite and lots on the ground once occupied by the Waco village and the old Ranger post. Early residents including former Ranger Shapley Ross quickly added civic and commercial functions, establishing the settlement's first ferry crossing, hotel, and post office, and the town became the seat of newly organized McLennan County in 1850 before incorporating in 1856. Today the original site has no distinct standing use of its own; it functions simply as the founding core of downtown Waco, a modern city built directly over the former village and fort ground, with historical markers and interpretive sites recalling its Indian, Ranger, and trading-post origins.