Located along the historic Trail of Tears and on the Old Wire Road , 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 . Following the war , the town was rebuilt between 1867 and 1869 and in 1868 it was renamed Washburn in honor of an early pioneer to the area Samuel Washburn , who had lived in the area about ten years , before moving to Texas where he was killed in 1838
Trail of Tears
Trail of Tears
Washburn, Missouri