Cherryvale was created on the land of the Osage Indians. The Osage had to leave because veterans of the American Civil War were looking for land. The first white man to buy land and settle in Cherryvale was Mr. Abe Eaton. He later sold his land to the Kansas City, Lawrence & Southern Kansas Railroad. That railroad became the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston Railway. It then became the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, which used the line for much of the 20th century. The town site was platted by the railroad in 1871. It was named Cherryvale because of its place in the valley of Cherry Creek.