What is the history of Cottonwood Falls, Kansas?
The first settlement in the area of Cottonwood Falls was in 1854, when an Indian trader named Seth Hayes founded a cattle ranch on the Cottonwood River close to the mouth of Diamond Spring Creek. The area around the town was organized as Chase County, KansasChase County in 1859. In 1873 the city’s French Renaissance style city hall was built; at roughly the same time, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway reached Cottonwood Falls. Through the late 19th and early 20th centuries the area around the city was mainly divided into farms and cattle ranches. In 1931, TWA Flight 599Transcontinental & Western Air Flight 599 crashed near Cottonwood Falls, killing all eight on board, including Notre Dame University football coach Knute Rockne. A monument to the crash is located on private property ten miles south of the town. Source: http://en.wikipedia.
