in 1889, the northern section of the south western railway was constructed from perth to what is now armadale, and in 1897 a station was built at this location to service the sparsely scattered population of this district. it has been claimed that the station was named 'armadale' because a name other than neerigin had to be found to avoid confusion with the wheatbelt town of narrogin, and that from this the town which sprung up near the station took its name. other theories have also been put forward for the origin of the name. what is certain is that the name was not in use before the arrival of the railway.