However, when the Santa Fe Railroad extended its line to Caldwell, Wichita investors soon took notice and formed a town company in 1879, selling lots for $125 . The city was soon incorporated and quickly promoted its opportunity as a cattle shipping point. The town grew quickly and soon boasted some 1,500 people.

As the cowboys began to drive the cattle up the Chisholm Trail to Caldwell, the town took on all of the elements of a lawless frontier settlement. These many drovers gave the town its nickname, the "Border Queen."  

As the town sprouted saloons, gambling dens, and brothels, the first town north of Indian Territory, provided a place where the cowboys could go wild after months on the dusty and treacherous trail. Gunfights, showdowns, general hell raising and hangings soon became commonplace.

During its reckless cowtown period between 1879 and 1885, Caldwell "boasted” a higher murder rate, and loss of more law enforcement officers than other more famous cowtowns. During this period, violence claimed the lives of 18 city marshals, leading a Wichita editor to write, "As we go to press hell is again in session in Caldwell."

One of the first incidents occurred at the Moreland Saloon on July 7, 1879, when Deputy Constable James Wilson and a citizen, George Flatt, cornered two cowboys named Woods and Adams, who had been firing their guns outside the saloon in celebration of being paid for a Texas cattle drive earlier in the day. The confrontation; however, soon led to gunplay and when the smoke cleared, Woods and Adams were dead. In the melee, an innocent bystander by the name of Kiser was wounded.  Having now made a reputation for himself, Flatt was soon made Caldwell’s first City Marshal. He gladly took credit for shooting the cowboys, but no one ever came forward to accept responsibility for wounding Mr. Kiser.

However, Flatt was not well liked by local citizens and on April 5, 1880, a new mayor was elected in Caldwell, namely one Mike Meagher. One of the first things Meagher did was discharge City Marshal George Flatt because he disapproved of Flatt's confrontational way of law enforcement.

He then appointed William Horseman as the new marshal; Frank Hunt and Dan Jones as deputies, and James Johnson stayed on as constable. Flatt was none to happy about this event and wasted no time voicing his complaints about town.

On the evening of June 18,1880, a drunken Flatt made his rounds in a number of Caldwell saloons, voicing his complaints to anyone who would listen. Somewhere along the line, he ran into Frank Hunt and the two argued until Hunt was finally able to persuade Flatt to go home about 1:00 o'clock in the morning. But Flatt wouldn't make it. On his way, he was ambushed and died in the street with a bullet in the back of his skull.

Mayor Mike Meagher, and police officers William Horseman, Frank Hunt, James Johnson, and Dan

Jones for the murder were soon arrested by Sumner County Sheriff, Joe Thralls. Although all of the men were bound over for trial, only William Horseman was tried. A year later he was acquitted.