Wilbur, WA

Wilbur is a Lincoln County town on U.S. 2, near Lake Roosevelt in the Big Bend country of eastern Washington. Before Wilbur existed, western Lincoln County had no towns west of Davenport; the Central Washington Railroad arrived in 1889, and the post office at Wild Goose Bill's Ranch took the name Wilbur from Samuel Wilbur Condit. The town incorporated in 1890, and the rail line gave this part of the county a market and a route.

Today, Wilbur's civic map includes town hall and council, the community center, Hesseltine Public Library, Big Bend Historical Society Museum, fire and ambulance services, and Wilbur Town Park. U.S. 2 and State Route 21 point north toward the Lake Roosevelt shoreline and the Keller Ferry, 14 miles away; the town sits on the route between wheat country and the reservoir. Wild Goose Bill Days remembers Condit with a parade and park events, keeping the town's railroad-era founder in the present calendar. Wilbur is easiest to picture as a small highway town whose local services cluster around a much larger Columbia River landscape.