Baxter Springs is a city in Cherokee County, Kansas located along the Spring River. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 4,238. It is the most populous city of Cherokee County.From an early trading post, the city grew dramatically with the expansion of cattle ranching in the West and was the first "cow town" in Kansas following the Civil War. its population grew dramatically into the early 1870s in association with the cattle drives.