Washburn is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

and

census designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

(CDP) in Armstrong County,

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, United States. Washburn is part of the Amarillo Metropolitan Statistical Area.

History

Washburn was part of the

JA Ranch The JA Ranch is a historic cattle ranch in the Palo Duro Canyon in Armstrong County, Texas. Founded in 1876 by Charles Goodnight and John George Adair, it is the oldest cattle ranching operation in the Texas Panhandle. Its headquarters area wa ...

from 1876 until its division in 1887. Robert E. Montgomery, who owned section 98, established this townsite at the ending point of the

Fort Worth and Denver Railway The Fort Worth and Denver Railway , nicknamed "the Denver Road," was a Class I railroad, class I Rail transport in the United States, American railroad company that operated in the northern part of Texas from 1881 to 1982, and had a profound infl ...

in August of that same year. It was named after railroad official D.W. Washburn, who was also friends with, and a son-in-law of,

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad is a Railroad classes, Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United Stat ...

President

Grenville M. Dodge Grenville Mellen Dodge (April 12, 1831 – January 3, 1916) was a Union Army officer on the frontier and a pioneering figure in military intelligence during the Civil War, who served as Ulysses S. Grant's intelligence chief in the Western Th ...

. Two water wells, a double pump station, a coal chute, a section house, a depot, and stock pens were all established in the community along the Denver Road. Another railroad track was built to

Panhandle A salient, panhandle, or bootheel is an elongated protrusion of a geopolitical entity, such as a subnational entity or a sovereign state. While similar to a peninsula in shape, a salient is most often not surrounded by water on three sides. Ins ...

in 1888 to connect it to the Southern Kansas Railway. Washburn grew to have

tent A tent is a shelter consisting of sheets of fabric or other material draped over or attached to a frame of poles or a supporting rope. While smaller tents may be free-standing or attached to the ground, large tents are usually anchored using g ...

dugout Dugout may refer to: * Dugout (shelter), an underground shelter * Dugout (boat), a logboat * Dugout (smoking), a marijuana container Sports * In bat-and-ball sports, a dugout is one of two areas where players of the home or opposing teams sit whe ...

s, and board shacks and was a base of operations for settlers, ranchers, and other nearby communities. A post office was established at Washburn in March 1888 and remained in operation until 1956, with James Logue as postmaster, as well as justice of the peace in the community. He established a bank in 1908, which joined the bank in Claude in 1911. It had its newspaper titled the ''Armstrong County Record'', as well as three

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...

s and a building supply house in 1890 and lost its position as the county seat to nearby

Claude Claude may refer to: People and fictional characters * Claude (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Claude (surname), a list of people * Claude Callegari (1962–2021), English Arsenal supporter * Claude Debussy (1862–1918), ...

in a close, contested election. This, along with the failure of other railroad tracks, tap line abandonment, and Amarillo emerging as a major city, caused the community's decline as people moved out and businesses failed, but the community's spirit remained alive. Telephone service arrived in 1896 from Amarillo. A

Methodist church Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

was built in the community in 1907. A

Baptist church Baptists are a denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers ( believer's baptism) and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches generally subscribe to the doctrines of ...

was then established in 1963. Its population was 25 from the 1930s to the 1950s and grew to 100 in 1964. It went down to 70 from 1974 to the 1980s. Washburn had a hotel, a

grain elevator A grain elevator or grain terminal is a facility designed to stockpile or store grain. In the grain trade, the term "grain elevator" also describes a tower containing a bucket elevator or a pneumatic conveyor, which scoops up grain from a lowe ...

, and a business in 1984. Some residents commute to Amarillo for work. Its population was 104 in 1990 and grew to 120 in 2000. Today, the community has a grain elevator in operation. It also had a general store, a

lumber yard A lumber yard is a location where lumber and wood-related products used in construction and/or home improvement projects are processed or stored. Some lumber yards offer retail sales to consumers, and some of these may also provide services s ...

and two

saloons Saloon may refer to: Buildings and businesses * One of the bars in a traditional British pub * An alternative name for a bar (establishment) * Western saloon, a historical style of American bar * The Saloon, a bar and music venue in San Francis ...

. H.E. White owned the store, lumber yard, and elevators in the community. James Logue also donated land for a cemetery in the community. The

Panhandle and Santa Fe Railway The Panhandle and Santa Fe Railway (P&SF) was an American rail transport company that was a subsidiary of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (AT&SF), operating primarily in the Texas Panhandle. History Chartered November 2, 1886 as The S ...

also served the community.

Geography

Washburn is located along U.S. Highway 287 in northwestern Armstrong County, approximately 20 miles east of Amarillo.

Demographics

According to the

Handbook of Texas The Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) is an American nonprofit educational and research organization dedicated to documenting the history of Texas. It was founded in Austin, Texas, United States, on March 2, 1897. In November 2008, the ...

, the community had an estimated population of 120 in 2000. Washburn first appeared as a

in the 2020 U.S. Census.

2020 Census

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 116 people, 70 households, and 63 families residing in the CDP.

Education

A combination school/church building was built at Washburn in 1889. A community center was built in Washburn to modernize school campuses, improve education, and sponsor cultural events around 1920. Today, the community is served by the Claude Independent School District.

References

External links

* {{authority control Unincorporated communities in Armstrong County, Texas Unincorporated communities in Texas Unincorporated communities in Amarillo metropolitan area