Just prior to the construction of the Central Washington Railroad line in 1889, no towns existed west of Davenport in Lincoln County.

One place along the line, "Wild Goose Bill's Ranch," run by Samuel Wilbur Condit, was assigned a post office by the Federal government.

Condit was 62 years old and known throughout the region as Wild Goose Bill when he and another man shot each other to death on January 21, 1895.

[5][6] It had been located on the stage line between Davenport and the Mines in northern Washington and with the speculation of the railroad arriving soon seemed a likely place for a town.

With the arrival of the railroad later that year, Wilbur's growth increased rapidly with the establishment of bigger hotels, a bank, a lumber mill and countless other businesses.

After a July 5, 1901, fire destroyed several city blocks, causing $155,000 in damage ($3.9 million in 2017 dollars), a water works was established in 1903.

[7] Wilbur gained news coverage in July 2007 as a result of crop circles found roughly 10 miles north of town, just off of Highway 2.

The origin of these depressions in the wheat crop of local farmer Jim Llewellyn is unknown, and the phenomenon was covered by new stations as well as newspapers.

[citation needed] Wilbur is located in northwestern Lincoln County on U.S. Route 2 approximately 14 miles (23 km) south of Franklin D. Roosevelt Lake on the Columbia River.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 1.37 square miles (3.55 km2), all of it land.