Cherokee, one of the principal incorporated cities of Crawford county, is located near the southern boundary, at the junction of the St. Louis & San Francisco and the Missouri Pacific railroads, 12 miles south of Girard, the county seat. When the Kansas City, Fort Scott & Gulf R. R. was under construction, supply camps and boarding "shanties" were established at suitable places along the line for the accommodation of the workmen. A building of this nature was erected by William Sharp on the site of Cherokee early in the year 1870, which was the beginning of the present city. The land had been entered by John G. Knox and John J. Hoke, but it was donated to the railroad company, which in April, 1870, laid out the town and began selling lots. A school house was erected the following year, and in May, 1874, W. K. Goode removed his newspaper outfit from Girard and began the publication of the Cherokee Pharos, which was the first newspaper.

The Cherokee of the present day is one of the busy cities of southeastern Kansas. It has two national banks, flour mills, grain elevators, an ice plant, a broom factory, a telephone exchange, good hotels, churches of the principal denominations, a graded school system, telegraph and express offices, a number of first class mercantile establishments, and a weekly newspaper (the Sentinel). The postoffice at Cherokee issues international money orders, and from it emanate two rural delivery routes which supply a large district with daily mail. Sheridan township, in which the city is situated, is one of the finest agricultural regions in that section of the state, and Cherokee is the shipping point for large quantities of grain and live stock. Coal of fine quality is extensively mined near the city. According to the U. S. census for 1910, the population was 1,452.