In 1875 a debate ensued about the location of the county seat. A plot of land with water owned by Abner Yates was selected as the best site even though no one lived there. Yates donated ground for the courthouse, a city park, each church, and a plot of land for the first two children born. Yet he died a poor man in 1904. Citizens showed their appreciation for Abner and his wife, Mary, by pooling their money and erecting a respectable gravestone. The dark gray granite Yates stone stands at the east end of the main driveway.