Coldwater, the county seat of Comanche county, is situated a little northwest of the center of the
county, and is one of the most important towns on the Wichita & Englewood division of the Atchison, Topeka
& Santa Fe railway system. It has an elevation of 2,089 feet and is beautifully located in the valley of Cavalry
creek, a tributary of the Arkansas river. Coldwater was established as the county seat soon after the county was
organized, and in the matter of growth it has had its 'rups and downs." The census of 1890 showed a population
of 480, which had dwindled to 263 in 1900. (For the cause of this decline see Comanche County.) Then came a turn
for the better, and in 1910 the population was 684. The improvement during these latter years is of a permanent
character. Coldwater has 2 banks, 3 grain elevators, 2 weekly newspapers (the Talisman and the Western Star), an
international money order postoffice, express, telegraph and telephone facilties, and is the commercial center
for a large and prosperous agricultural district. (Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, by Frank Wilson Blackmar,
1912, page 389)
