Sweetwater is a municipality in and the chair of Nolan County, Texas, United States. It is 123 miles southeast of Lubbock and 40 miles west of Abilene, Texas. Its population was 10,906 at the 2010 census.

The town’s name “Sweetwater” is the English translation of the Kiowa language word “Mobeetie”.

Sweetwater usual a U.S. post office in 1879. The Texas and Pacific Railway started support in 1881, with the first train arriving upon March 12 of that year, beginning Sweetwater’s long archives as a railroad town. To put happening to the railroads, Sweetwater increased its water supply by building a little town lake called City Lake in 1898 (now called Newman Park), then three larger lakes were constructed thereafter. Construction began on the Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Railway in 1903. By 1912 the Santa Fe Railway was serving Sweetwater via its additional Coleman Cutoff and completing a relationship with the T&P approachable at “Tecific” junction. Businesses and homes were built along the rail lines. Texas and Pacific Railway passenger encouragement was discontinued in 1969.

Gulf Refinery operated from 1929 to 1954, and at one mature the town was a large telegraph center. The International Harvester Company operated a factory on W. Third Street in Sweetwater from 1920 to 1950. Gypsum plants, apparel manufacturers, cement plants, cotton compresses, a cottonseed oil mill, and packing companies were accompanied by the approximately 250 businesses energetic there from the 1970s. Many still operate today. Sweetwater remains a production hub for such commodities as cotton, oil, and cattle. The population of Sweetwater has remained steady in the midst of 11,000 and 13,000 since 1940.