Neosho Falls, one of the important towns of Woodson county, is located in the northeast corner, at the junction of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe and the Missouri, Kansas & Texas railroads and on the Neosho river. It is an incorporated city of the third class; has all lines of mercantile interests, banking facilities, flour mills, sawmills, sorghum mills, and a weekly newspaper (the Post). There are eleven oil wells in the vicinity. The town is supplied with telegraph and express offices and a money order postoffice with three rural routes. The population according to the census of 1910 was 571. Neosho Falls is in the midst of a prospering farming district and is the shipping point for the produce raised within a radius of several miles, being 13 miles from Yates Center, the county seat.

It is the oldest town in the county and was for many years the judicial seat. The vicinity was settled in 1857, when a postoffice was established with Col. N. S. Goss as postmaster. Rugglew & Stevens opened a store on the south bank of the river, and in 1858 they built the "Falls House." The first school, taught in 1858, was a private institution kept by E. H. Curtis, who was afterwards colonel of a colored regiment in the Civil war. The first newspaper was the "Frontier Democrat," issued in 1869 by I. B. Boyle. The first churches were built in 1870. The incorporation as a town took place in Sept., 1870, and a year later it became a city of the third class. The trustees of the town were D. W. Finney, V. L. Spawr and I. W. Dow, and the first officers of the city were O. P. Haughawout, mayor, and F. W. Grove, clerk.

The largest enterprise for the times was the Neosho Valley fair, which was held here beginning in 1875. Four counties participated—Allen, Anderson, Greenwood and Woodson—and it had a decided influence in the development of this section of the country. The fair gained a reputation far and wide and in 1879 the officers had as their guests President and Mrs. Hayes, Gen. W. T. Sherman and a number of state officers. A buck horn chair was presented to the president, and "the time when Hayes was here" is still referred to as an incident in the history of the town.