A post office named Cordell was established in the same year in Young's store.

In 1897, A. J. Johnson and J. C. Harrell convinced Young to move his store to the present site, where water was more plentiful and of better quality than in Old Cordell.

The move was challenged in the court as illegal, because only the territorial legislature could authorize such an action.

In 1904, the Oklahoma Territorial Supreme Court ruled that the county seat must return to Cloud Chief.

Governor George Nigh called it, "...godfather of all courthouses in the state of Oklahoma."

The Washita County Courthouse is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 2.5 square miles (6.5 km2), all land.

Summers are hot to sweltering, and typically dry, whilst winters average cool by afternoon and freezing by morning but show extreme variation from very warm due to descending chinook winds to frigid periods dominated by Arctic air masses.