Wanted Trail Horse

The Coldwater area was inhabited by Potawatomi Native Americans at the time of first contact with European trappers, traders, and colonists. The French, and later the British, had traded with the Potawatomi. The Potawatomi language referred to the area as, "The land of the cold, cold water." Control over the area passed from Great Britain to the United States in 1796, with the British withdrawal from Detroit. American settlers did not move into the area until around 1830, with many arriving from New York and New England. Coldwater was incorporated as a village in 1837, and then incorporated by the legislature as a city in 1861.