Before there was even a settlement in the area, the natural mineral springs was a popular stop with the Osage Indians as they traveled toward their summer hunting grounds. Believing that the mineral springs had miraculous healing properties, Chief Black Dog and members of his tribe routed their trek through here to take part in the flowing springs. Though long gone today, these springs once surged just south of what is now East Seventh Street in Baxter Springs.

In the spring of 1849 the Reverend John Baxter, his wife and eight children moved from Missouri to 160 acres of land near Spring River. Flowing from the side of a hill near the Military Road that ran between Fort Scott and Fort Gibson, was the natural spring that the Osage Indians had long visited.  Near the spring he set up “Baxter’s Place,” an inn and general store. However, Baxter would not live to see the city that would eventually take his name. The Reverend Baxter, who was well known in the area as a gun-toting preacher, was gunned down in a property dispute in 1859.
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