Contemporary citizens have named Major Biddle the first white settler in Wyandotte, though there had been white farmers living in the territory before he established his home here. Major John Biddle had purchased 2,200 acres (9 km2) of land from the federal government in 1818. The wooded section by the river inspired the Major to become a farmer much in the manner of George Washington at Mount Vernon. He also built a summer estate. The buildings were completed around 1835, and he named his estate "Wyandotte" after the Indians who were still living in the area.