Misplaced Pages

This article may require cleanup to meet Misplaced Pages's quality standards. The specific problem is: Several of these entries are unreliably sourced and are apparently hoax ghost towns. Please help improve this article if you can. (December 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

This is an incomplete list of ghost towns in Oklahoma, United States of America, including abandoned sites.

Classification

Ghost towns can include sites in various states of disrepair and abandonment. Some sites no longer have any trace of civilization and have reverted to pasture land or empty fields. Other sites are unpopulated but still have standing buildings. Some sites may even have a small population, but there are far fewer citizens than in its grander historic past.

Barren site

• Sites no longer in existence
• Sites that have been destroyed
• Covered with water
• Reverted to pasture
• May have a few difficult to find foundations/footings at most

Neglected site

• Only rubble left
• Roofless building ruins
• Buildings or houses still standing, but majority are roofless

Abandoned site

• Building or houses still standing
• Buildings and houses all abandoned
• No population, except caretaker
• Site no longer in existence except for one or two buildings, for example old church, grocery store

Many of these communities played important roles in the history, settlement, and growth of the state. Platted town sites organized by railroads, speculators, or the government during the opening of Oklahoma, many times, failed to prosper after initial settlement. Other communities grew up around rural schools, post offices, or general stores, and faded away when the attracting facilities closed. Several important Indian settlements developed around frontier forts, trading posts, Indian agencies, or where natural resources attracted permanent dwellings and dissolved when the Indian lands were opened. Oil boom towns also sometimes attracted thousands of people but disappeared when the boom ended. Abandoned sites in Oklahoma are almost always located on private, state, tribal, or federal land, and trespassing laws apply.

Semi abandoned site

• Building or houses still standing
• Buildings and houses largely abandoned
• few residents
• many abandoned buildings
• Small population

Historic community

• Building or houses still standing
• Still a busy community
• Smaller than its boom years
• Population has decreased dramatically, to one fifth or less.

Ghost towns

See also

• History of Oklahoma
• List of cities in Oklahoma
• List of towns in Oklahoma
• List of unincorporated communities in Oklahoma
• List of Census Designated Places in Oklahoma

References

1. ^ Shirk, George (1987). Oklahoma Place Names. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 978-0-8061-2028-7.
2. Shirk, George B., Oklahoma Place Names, p. 3; Post Office Site Location Reports, Record Group 28, National Archives
3. ^ Morris, John (1977). Ghost Towns of Oklahoma. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press. p. 229. ISBN 978-0-8061-1420-0.
4. ^ "Ghost Towns of Oklahoma". Ghost Towns. Atjeu Publishing. Retrieved May 10, 2009.
5. ^ "Ghost and Almost Ghost Towns of Oklahoma". Retrieved May 10, 2009.
6. "Alsuma: The Town That Disappeared From Southeast Tulsa." Archived 2014-08-08 at the Wayback Machine Arnett, David. GTR Newspapers. March 30, 2007. Retrieved August 2, 2014.
7. ^ Etter, Jim (May 1, 1996). Ghost-Town Tales of Oklahoma: Unforgettable Stories of Nearly Forgotten Places. Stillwater, Oklahoma, United States of America: New Forums Press. p. 248. ISBN 978-0-913507-74-2.
8. ^ "ALL-BLACK TOWNS". Retrieved July 16, 2024.
9. "African Towns and Settlements of Indian and Oklahoma Territories". Retrieved July 16, 2024.
10. "Three Rivers History: Black towns were places of opportunity". Retrieved July 16, 2024.
11. ^ "Historic All-Black Towns in Oklahoma". African-American Resource Center. Tulsa City-County Library. Archived from the original on April 14, 2009. Retrieved May 10, 2009.
12. ^ "Ghost Towns, Oklahoma (History)". Ghost Towns. Online Highways. 2008. Retrieved May 10, 2009.
13. ^ Wilson, Linda. "Ghost Towns". Oklahoma Encyclopedia of History and Culture. Oklahoma Historical Society. Retrieved July 27, 2009.
14. "Three Rivers History: Black towns were places of opportunity". June 23, 2012.
15. ^
16. ^ United States Geological Survey. Geographic Names Information System. (accessed February 11, 2007)
17. ^ Shirk, George H. Oklahoma Place Names. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1987: ISBN 0-8061-2028-2
18. ^ Grant, Foreman (September 1928). "Early Post Offices of Oklahoma". Chronicles of Oklahoma. 6 (3). Archived from the original on May 23, 2011. Retrieved June 8, 2009.
19. Everett, Dianna. "Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture - Byron". Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture - Byron. Oklahoma Historical Society. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
20. Everett, Dianna. "Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture - Cardin". Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture - Cardin. Oklahoma Historical Society. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
21. ^ Oklahoma Historical Society. Chronicles of Oklahoma Archived February 19, 2010, at the Wayback Machine. (accessed February 11, 2007)
22. Hyder, Glenn O. Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. "McCurtain." Retrieved February 16, 2014.
23. Everett, Dianna. "Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture". Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture - Alfalfa County. Oklahoma History Center. Retrieved March 15, 2016.
24. ^ "Route 66 Ghost Towns". Legends of America. www.legends of america.com. 2009. Retrieved May 10, 2009.
25. McRill, Leslie. "Old Ingalls: The Story of a Town that Will Not Die." Archived 2006-09-05 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved September 16, 2014.
26. Rowley, Sean (July 1, 2017). "Manard settlement was once the Wild West". Tahlequah Daily Press. Tahlequah, Oklahoma. Archived from the original on December 14, 2020. Retrieved February 14, 2021.
27. Mullins, Jonita (June 14, 2015). "Manard community buzzed in its earlier days". Muskogee Phoenix. Muskogee, Oklahoma: Three Rivers History. Archived from the original on February 14, 2021. Retrieved February 14, 2021.
28. Teague, Margaret (1967). History of Washington County and Surrounding Area. Bartlesville, Oklahoma -: Bartlesville Historical Commission - Reprinted by the staff of the Bartlesville Area History Museum, 2020. ISBN 978-0-9887092-1-8.
29. Gorremans, Richard (2023). Ghost Towns In Oklahoma - Washington County. Amazon/KDP. pp. 22–33. ISBN 979-8-89217-426-8.
30. KTEN. Hair, Kris. "Secrets of the Lake: Old Woodville." November 2, 2011. Retrieved September 10, 2013.
31. "Yonkers Was Also An Area Ghost Town." Harris, Phil. Muskogee Sunday Phoenix & Times Democrat. May 23, 1976. Retrieved July 26, 2014.
32. "Zincville"

Further reading

• Berry, Shelley, Small Towns, Ghost Memories of Oklahoma: A Photographic Narrative of Hamlets and Villages Throughout Oklahoma's Seventy-seven Counties (Virginia Beach, Va.: Donning Company Publishers, 2004).
• Blake Gumprecht, "A Saloon On Every Corner: Whiskey Towns of Oklahoma Territory, 1889-1907," The Chronicles of Oklahoma 74 (Summer 1996).
• Carson, Mary. Guide to Treasure in Oklahoma Volume 1. 144.
• Shirk, George (1987). Oklahoma Place Names. University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 0-8061-2028-2.
• "Ghost Towns," Vertical File, Research Division, Oklahoma Historical Society, Oklahoma City.
• Gorremans, Richard (2023). "Ghost Towns In Oklahoma - Washington County". Amazon/KDP Books. ISBN 979-8-89217-426-8.

External links

• View Ghost Towns in Google Maps
• Map of Ghost Towns in Oklahoma
• Oklahoma Ghost Towns
• Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture - Ghost Towns Archived June 29, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
• Abandoned Oklahoma
• Google Map of Ghost Towns In Oklahoma
• Website - Ghost Towns In Oklahoma

• Lists of ghost towns in the United States
• Ghost towns in Oklahoma
• Oklahoma geography-related lists
• American Old West-related lists
• Oklahoma history-related lists