Wilbur, Washington — Town Named for a Man Who Wasn't Named Wilbur

Samuel Wilbur Condit established a store near the developing settlement in the late nineteenth century.

When residents needed a post-office name, they used his middle name.

Wilbur stuck.

Wheat farming gave the town a durable economic role as rail transportation connected local grain elevators with outside markets.

U.S. 2 later provided another reason for traffic to keep passing through on routes toward Spokane, Grand Coulee and the Columbia Basin.

Agriculture remains the foundation, while the highway keeps Wilbur more visible than many farm communities of similar size.

Samuel Condit supplied the name accidentally.

The wheat supplied the reason it lasted.