ARMITON:
G.P. November 27, 1890  Another Town.  Land has been deeded to the Mo. Pac. R.R. by Mr. Armacost for side track & station, on section 5, twp. 29, rge 25, Washington Twp. It is on the J. V. Baysinger farm. the R. R. co. agrees to maintain and build a good depot at that point.  As yet it has not been named.  

Girard Press 2-21-1891: The name of the new town in Washington Twp. on the line of the Fort Scott & Southern R.R. is Rust, instead of Armiton, as at first decided upon.  It is located on the SW 1/4 of 5-29-25 known as the Armacost farm and comprises about 65 acres of land.  It was surveyed last Thursday and the official plat will be filed for record in a few days, having been sent to Ohio for the inspection and approval of the owner of the site....

ARMA:
Pittsburg Hdlt. & Sun Jan. 24, 1971 by K. L. Simmons:  ...William F. Armacost came to Crawford Co. from Bethel, Ohio. IN association with T. T. Perry, a Girard real estate man, Armacost laid out the town that is now Arma.  For a time it was called Armacost, then shortened to Arma.  Earlier the town had been known as Rust, a name nobody seemed to like, so it was scuttled rather quickly.]
 
Baughman's Kansas P. O.'s shows established May 13, 1891; discontinued August 31, 1906; George H. Hoisington 1st appointee; Then re-established February 17, 1908History of Crawford County 1905 p. 50;  Arma, on the Missouri Pacific R.R. in Lincoln Twp., is but little more than a station and shipping point.  A depot and one or two houses are all there is of the town.    (Note error: Arma is in Washington Twp)

G.P. 9-17-1891  Arma   This is the name of the post office at the new station of Rust, Washington Twp., on the Fort Scott Railroad, John Rodabaugh is postmaster and George H. Hoisington assistant.  Mails are expected over the railroad in a few days..a nice depot building shows that the railroad expects to do some business at this point.  Near by W. R. Reid's large barn looms up grandly. It is second in size only to Nel Smith's near Farlington.

Plat Book of Crawford Co. 1906 p. 25.  Also p. 23

1912 Kansas, A Cyclopedia of State History....Copyright 1912   Arma, an incorporated town of Crawforfd county, is a station on the Missouri Pacific R.R., 9 miles east of Girard, the county seat, and about 3 miles west of the state line.   It is a typical Kansas town, has express and telegraph offices, a flour mill, a lumber yard, several general stores and in 1910 reported a population of 327.

ARMA - Population (1915) 1,742; established, 1894; has telephones; is on the Pittsburg-Joplin electric line and the Missouri Pacific railway.
(Taken from "A History of the Newspapers & Magazines  Published in Kansas from the Organization of Kansas Territory, 1854 to January, 1916" )

Kans. Hist. Quar. Sum '72 p. 194: Town:   1917 Rand McNally Guide shows Arma on Mo. Pac. R.R., Money Order P.O., Am. Express, Wells Fargo Express, Western Union Telegraph Sta.  Pop. in 1915 was 1792.  Also on Joplin & Pittsburg Elec. Railway.

1919  The Annals of Kansas (1886-1925)  June 2  The Arma State BVank was robbed of $50,000 in Liberty Bonds.

1931 Craw. Co. Highway Map shows Arma.