Washburn is a city in Washburn Township, Barry County, Missouri, United States. The current town encompasses the sites of two communities formerly known as Keetsville and O'Day and is named for local pioneer Samuel C. Washburn. As of the 2020 census, Washburn had a population of 407.

History

Keetsville 1850?–1868

Located along the historic Trail of Tears and on the Old Wire Road, and was a Butterfield Overland Mail Route Flag Stop. Keetsville traced its official settlement to Georgia native John Cureton (1795-1853), who had served as a judge in Washington County, Arkansas before settling on the Washburn Prairie about two miles north of current day Washburn in 1840 and then procured the location of the town. In 1853, Cureton died and ownership of the land transferred to the Englishman James T. Keet (1818-1863), who then laid out the town of Keetsville. The 1850s saw the first real establishment of the town with Keet establishing a store at the site. The growth of the town would be interrupted by the Civil War, as a February 1862 skirmish, a predecessor to the much larger Battle of Pea Ridge the next month in Pea Ridge, Arkansas, would result in the destruction of the fledgling town. and in 1868 it was renamed Washburn in honor of an early pioneer to the area Samuel Washburn, This line ran about a half mile west of what was then Keetsville, but soon to be renamed Washburn. Instead of incorporating the Keetsville or Washburn name into the railroad stop at this location, the stop and the community that blossomed next to it was instead named O’Day, after the Irish-born John O’Day (1843-1901), a Springfield-based attorney for the railroad. In the years that followed O’Day grew, adding two hotels, shops, a newspaper, dwellings and in either 1887 or 1888 a post office, while also remaining codependent of neighboring Washburn concerning educational, religious and social life.

Washburn 1868–Present

The community of Washburn, formerly Keetsville, was officially incorporated as a town on August 4, 1880,

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all land.

Demographics

2010 census

As of the census of 2010, there were 435 people, 178 households, and 110 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 203 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 94.0% White, 0.9% Native American, 0.2% Pacific Islander, 0.2% from other races, and 4.6% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.6% of the population.

There were 178 households, of which 34.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.8% were married couples living together, 11.2% had a female householder with no husband present, 6.7% had a male householder with no wife present, and 38.2% were non-families. 28.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.44 and the average family size was 3.05.

The median age in the city was 33.1 years. 24.8% of residents were under the age of 18; 14.2% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 24.1% were from 25 to 44; 25.8% were from 45 to 64; and 11% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 47.6% male and 52.4% female.

2000 census

As of the census that year resulted in the construction of a new brick school building on land between the town of Washburn and the community of O’Day. The site of that school building continues in use today as the campus of that school's modern predecessor, the Southwest R-V School District. The building that the 1888 bond provided for would provide instruction for Washburn area students up until the eighth grade, though by 1920 it had expanded to offering high school classes.

In the early years of the school district there was no bus service, so children too far from the school to make it on foot on a daily basis attended various rural schools in the area, including Trents Creek, Maple Grove, Seven Star, Rock Springs, OK, Jacket and others. A tornado in the early 1920s destroyed the earlier building, so in 1924 a brick, single-story building was built to replace it. In the 1930s the Washburn School District instituted bus service, bringing high school students from the outlying communities into town for instruction beyond the eighth grade. This necessitated the addition of a second story to the 1924 structure as well as a gymnasium attached to the back of it. By 1954 the decision was made to close the Seligman School District in neighboring Seligman and bus those students to the larger Washburn campus. This consolidation resulted in the current Southwest R-V School District. Around this time the decision was also made to close the rural schools, most of them being antiquated in resources and limited in size, and use the bus service to bring the younger students to the former high school building in Seligman, while the Washburn building was then used exclusively as a high school. The Washburn building served as the high school and the Seligman building as the elementary for the next 10 years. Then on March 10, 1964, a heavy snowstorm cause the collapse of the Seligman elementary's gymnasium roof. The residents of the school district then voted to build a new elementary school building in Washburn, alongside the 1924 high school building. The 12 classroom elementary building cost $260,000 and was dedicated on August 22, 1965. The new building included classrooms, a multipurpose room, a theater and a cafeteria. The decision to build the new elementary school in Washburn also spurred a short lived revolt against the school district by residents in Seligman, who were upset at losing the school. The residents formed their own unofficial Seligman common school district and sought a legal order to dissolve the Southwest R-V School District and divide the assets. This action was later dismissed.

On the morning of March 23, 1975, the 1924 high school building caught fire and burned to the ground. The school board quickly set up an election for April 17, 1975 to replace the building on a bond in excess of $200,000. The bond passed with more than the two-thirds majority needed and a new high school building was built and in service the following school year. By 1980 a separate middle school building had also been added to campus and in 1983 a new gymnasium was constructed; in 1982 the gymnasium that had been attached to the 1924 high school building was destroyed by fire. By the end of the 1990s increased enrollment, especially from the rural areas of the district, necessitated the need of a larger and more modern high school. With the construction and opening of this new high school building in the early 2000s, the 1975 high school building became the district's new middle school building and elementary school students occupied both the 1981 middle school building and the 1965 elementary school building, which is currently the oldest building on a campus that dates its original educational origins to the 1888 bond issue.

See also

  • List of cities in Missouri

References

  • Historic maps of Washburn in the Sanborn Maps of Missouri Collection at the University of Missouri
  • Southwest R-5 School District