According to legend, the land where downtown Wichita Falls is presently located, in southeast Wichita County, was acquired in a poker game by John A. Scott of Mississippi in 1837. He packed away the certificates and promptly forgot them. Years later, the certificates were rediscovered by Scott's heirs, who commissioned M. W. Seeley to map out a townsite on the Wichita River tract. In July 1876, the townsite, as platted by Seeley, included a small waterfall on the Wichita River that was later washed away.

From 1881 to 1882, the residents of Wichita Falls induced the Fort Worth and Denver Railway Company, then building tracks west out of Fort Worth, to run the line through the town by offering substantial property concessions along the right-of-way. The arrival of the first train on September 27, 1882, triggered a boom in the sale of town lots.

Later, to become one of the most prominent of the town's promoters, Joseph Alexander Kemp arrived in 1883. He established a small wholesale and retail business that furnished supplies for the Indian reservation at nearby Fort Sill in the Indian Territory and area residents and ranchers.

Wichita Falls became the county seat of Wichita County in November 1883. It was officially incorporated on July 29, 1889, and the first meeting of the town council occurred on August 21, with Mayor Otis T. Bacon presiding.