In 1881, Almon Danforth purchased the Melbourne Stock Farm as a hobby, which would evolve into the massive Danforth Stock Farm on the south side of town. In 1881, however, it was located in the current area of Five Points Washington.
In 1881, the town was galvanized by the Charles Scott murder case.
Smallpox was so feared that when a man named Parker contracted the disease in town, city authorities barricaded the streets.