The Town of Washburn was planned by R. E. Montgomery, son-in-law of Fort Worth and Denver City Railway builder-president Gen. G. M. Dodge, and was named for a family friend. Promoted in 1887, Washburn for a time was the terminus of the F.W. and D.C. line. It had the first newspaper on the Plains, the Armstrong County Record, and also had a general store, lumber yard, two hotels, and two saloons. It later became a junction point where a branch line connected the F.W. and D.C. with the Santa Fe Railway at Panhandle. As the town dwindled, those remaining included Judge Jas. Logue, donor of the cemetery site and founder of Washburn State Bank in 1908, and H. E. White, owner of the store, lumber yard, and elevators.