The first buildings on the present site of the town were not built until 1902, on land owned by Robert Kilpatrick. The bridge across the river and formation of the Farmer's Mutual Telephone Company came in 1905, incorporation of the town in 1910, and electricity arrived in 1926. A population high of 214 was reached in 1920. The town's present population of about 60 is served by the bank, post office, church, elevator, elementary school, and a corner snack bar, all limited in size. Something of the bond can be seen in the presence of over half of all the graduates of the high school, which operated from 1923-1945, at a reunion in 1984.
Education is part of the answer.
Education has always had the serious consideration of the community. Religion is another part of the Cotesfield story. The United Brethren in Christ, now part of The United Methodist Church, came to the area in 1874. They met first in a dug out, then in the schoolhouse, and finally erected their own building in 1898. News accounts reveal activity by Baptists, Methodists, Mormons, Seventh Day Adventists, Free Methodists, and others.