The first European settlement, consisting of a few families, occurred in the Argyle area in the 1850s. The place was then known as Pilot Knob or Waintown. The settlement gradually acquired a few amenities in the late 1800s: a school in 1875, a Baptist church in 1876, and a post office in 1878. The community was formally founded and renamed Argyle in 1881, after the Texas and Pacific railroad built a track through the area. Some believe a railroad surveyor named the town after a garden in France. However, others believe the town to be named after the region of Argyll in Scotland. Also around this time was when Sam Bass, an infamous outlaw who stole $60,000 in gold coins from the Union Pacific Railroad, was rumored to have stashed the gold in a cave. Sam Bass died when he was 27, and it was rumored he never lived to retrieve the gold.