Redwater grew up around the Daniels and Spence sawmill in 1875. The town was originally named Ingersoll, after a famous agnostic of the day, Robert Green Ingersoll. William Thomas Fagan built two more sawmills in the early 1880s. The town's name was changed to Redwater after the color of the spring and well water. Farming and lumbering were the economy until the Red River Army Ammunition Depot and Lone Star Ordnance plant were built
