[4] Afton developed in this part of the Cherokee Nation in Indian Territory after the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad (later the St. Louis and San Francisco Railway, or Frisco) built tracks through the area to Vinita in 1871.

[6] In 1901, the Kansas City, Fort Scott and Memphis Railroad, which soon became part of the Frisco system, constructed another line through the town, creating a shorter route to Kansas City, and causing another spurt of population growth.

The town became a Frisco division point and shipping center for the surrounding agricultural area.

[5]}} In 1910, Afton's population was 1,276; the town had two schools, a waterworks, two hotels, two banks, a brick and tile plant, a creamery, a newspaper, mills and grain elevators.

[6][5]Today there is a bank a gas station, buffalo ranch, a pecan factory, a motel, a repair shop, and a dollar general.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 1.6 square miles (4.1 km2), all land.

[7] There was a museum in a former D-X filling station, built in 1937 and restored in 1999 to house Packard and U.S. Route 66 memorabilia.

BNSF Railway runs through Afton on the town's north side as it roughly parallels 1st Street.

The BNSF Afton Subdivision begins at the wye to the northeast of town and runs north to just south of Fort Scott, Kansas, where it merges with, and becomes, the BNSF Fort Scott Subdivision into Kansas City, Missouri.