Ord, located on the North Loup River and down the road a piece from Fort Hartsuff, was an ideal place for Sharp to grow up. Evelyn's solo flight occurred 13 months later. Throughout her career, local residents provided Evelyn with encouragement and help. Only 62 years prior to Evelyn Sharp's solo flight, General Edward O.C. Ord was traveling up the North Loup River valley looking for a site to erect a fort. The fort, it was said, was to protect area settlers from Indians that were still numerous in the area.
Some sources maintain the fort was erected for economic reasons.
The early 1870s had been difficult times for settlers. Unfavorable weather conditions caused crop failures and swarms of grasshoppers devoured what was left. Area settlers were employed to help construct the fort. General George Lucas Hartsuff. The town of Ord, surveyed in the spring of 1873, was named for General Ord.