Cottonwood Falls, the judicial seat and largest town of Chase county, is located in the central part of the county on the Cottonwood river, at the junction of two lines of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe R. R. It is a well built little city with good appearing business houses, some of them elegantly constructed with plate glass windows, etc. There are 2 banks, 2 weekly newspapers (the Chase County Leader and the Currant and Reveille) It is also an important market for farm produce. A fine quality of limestone is quarried near by and shipped from this point, and brick for building and walks is manufactured in considerable quantities. The town is supplied with telegraph and express offices and had an international money order postoffice with one rural route, The population according to the census of 1910 was 899.

Cottonwood Falls was made the temporary county seat upon the organization of the county in 1859. In 1862, having received a majority of the votes for the permanent county seat, it was declared such. The town became a city of the third class in 1872. The first officers were: Mayor, W. S. Smith; city clerk, M. C. Newton; marshal, C. C. Whitson; police judge, J. S. Doolittle; councilmen, George W. Williams, A. S. Howard and a number of others.

As early as May, 1859, a newspaper was started by S. N. Wood called the Kansas Press. It was moved to Council Grove later and in 1866 Mr. Wood started the Chase County Banner. The earliest paper to survive was the Chase County Leader, established in 1871 by William A. Morgan. The first bank was the Chase County National, established in 1882. The first churches were built about the year 1870.

Cottonwood Falls is on the south side of the river and Strong City, the railroad station, is on the north side. The two are a mile and a half apart and are connected by street cars.