Old Farwell was established in 1886 about one-half mile northeast of this site. It was intended to be the county seat of Hansford County, which was created in 1876 and organized in 1889. It lost an election to the town of Hansford, which served as county seat until 1928 but is also now non-existent. The community was named for early surveyor John V. Farwell and members of his family, Chicago department store executives who operated the XIT Ranch in this and nine other counties as their fee for building the Texas State Capitol from 1882 to 1886. The stones here are from the casing of a 200-foot well dug by hand to supply water to the town.