Coldwater

Coldwater, on Coldwater Creek in the central part of the county, became the county seat when Sherman County was organized in 1889. Some fifteen cowboys of the William B. Slaughter ranch (Coldwater Cattle Company) lived in the community, which in 1890 had the only post office in the county. By 1891 a hotel, a courthouse, a jail, and a mercantile store had been erected. Charles Randolph and George Loomis began the county's first newspaper, the Sherman County Banner, in July 1893. C. F. Williams based his windmill and well-drilling enterprise in Coldwater for a time. However, the railroads bypassed the community, and an election moved the county seat to Stratford in July 1901. By 1904 the only business left in Coldwater was George Loomis's store and post office. This post office closed in 1907. Though Coldwater continued as a ranch supply point, by 1940 only the old brick courthouse, often used as a rural church, remained. In the past several decades, the name of the community has been perpetuated by the Coldwater gas field.