Volume 11 , Issue 7

South Central Oklahoma Ghost Towns

This is more information from our OkieLegacy Ghosttown pages, that was submitted by Ernest Martin back sometime ago and we are moving it to our OkieLegacy ezine database for easier searching, viewing.

Ernest Martin traveled to Newport, Woodford, Gene Autry, Durwood, Cornish & Legate. Legate is in the extreme northeast corner of Love County. A county road travels around the outside perimeter of Lake Murray, yet for the town itself, Ernest found nothing there except a rather large, but well kept cemetery. Now and then there would be a modern home.

The land is beautiful with large trees but few signs of the land ever having been tilled. Ernest mentioned that he was sure at one time they grew cotton there. Today there are a few very large peanut fields in the sandy soil. Ernest included a picture of the cemetery.

There is nothing that is still standing there except a well kept cemetery. Legate had a post office from September 25, 1905 until Sept. 15, 1921. The Ardmore Library has a book there entitled A History of Love County [credited to the Love County Heritage Society] there was not even a simple acknowledgement that Legate ever existed. Its not just a ghost town because it seems that the spirit is gone also.

Wilson Creek

Back North and then East of Legate, you came to the location where the town of Wilson Creek once stood. Wilson Creek is located near Wilson Creek & southeast of Ardmore 10 miles or so. (This Wilson should not be confused with the town of Wilson which is west of Ardmore about 17 miles sometimes referred to as New Wilson.) Not a sign of any structure exists there but there is a well kept cemetery.

On this road, another mile or so on east, you travel up a hill to find the location of the "Wilson Creek Cemetery." The cemetery was in much disarray due to a recent storm that came through recently. Large trees appeared to having been struck by lightning. The US flag pole stood there but the flag was not mounted there in it's usual place. Marshall County is just a very short distance from here. The countryside is beautiful with its hills & large trees.

Durwood, OK

From Wilson Creek, if you head north on the Dickson Road until you come to Hwy-199 (old HWY 70) and turn back east again. There is located the Durwood road that you can travel south until it branches off to the east and into Marshall County.

Durwood was in two different locations when it was located in Marshall County only to later be moved to just barely inside Carter County. At this present site we are located in an area that co-mingles back and forth with Johnston, Carter and Marshall Counties. A few houses are along the road but nothing that could be identified with a town. Durwood was originally in two different locations in Marshall County - but ultimately ended up just barely inside of Carter County. This is all east of Ardmore a few miles.

When Ernest was a child he had a neighbor that grew up at Durwood & he told about businesses being there including a Drug store, etc. It had its beginning in what is known as the "yellow hills" in Marshall County. Although it had three very distinct locations each one was graced with a post office.

Newport, OK

If you go West on HWY-70 to Lone Grove and turned north on Newport Road, you will find what remains of Newport (just north of Lone Grove). It is gone, except perhaps one old building. The cemetery is at the very road side. By following this road (Newport Road) North 15 miles or so you will arrive at Woodford.

Newport was located North of Lone Grove several miles and there is nothing there now except a very large cemetery. Newport had a post office from 1892 until 1961.

As you travel north along this road the scenery becomes very picturesque and soon the mountains appears back in the north. What a beautiful drive it is as you travel toward Woodford. As you travel on this road which is covered with an arbor of wonderful large trees, the terrain is rolling hills which soon reveal the mountains more clearly in the distance and the blue haze gives the scenery a depth that is not surpassed by any you might have ever seen elsewhere.

Woodford, OK

The Arbuckle mountains hold a course east & west all along the horizon. Large ranches appear all along the road and are very evident all along the north side of highway 53, which we will travel when we go back east from Woodford.

However, now we are still going north on the road we called Newport road earlier and suddenly we come to the junction with highway 53 & then the location of where the town of Woodford once existed. The old store building which also housed the post office is standing but it is nailed up tight.

As Ernest went further north he occasionally saw the remains of a building. Often there is only rubble where a home once stood and sometimes there is an old chimney still standing as if it were standing guard over the old home place. The road winds around the hills and there is the old covered spring which no longer flows but still trickles a little water.

Next ... we come to an elaborate fenced in area which lets you know that this ranch is not open to the public but now we see the gateway into the area that is located below the large concrete dam that was built to hold water for Ardmore. This Ardmore Mountain lake was the lone source of water for Ardmore many years and the pipeline that carries the water does so by gravity flow. At the lake office the lady there shows a huge Rattlesnake skin that was mounted on a board. The board was wide enough, but it was only about five feet long so it would not accommodate the longer snake skin they also have.

If you drive up the mountain, you can take a picture of the Ardmore Mountain Lake, which by the way holds the record for some of the largest fish that have ever been caught in Oklahoma. Woodford now days only exists as a memory. No growth, no new homes -- nothing is going on at Woodford.

Gene Autry, OK

As you travel back on highway 53, traveling east toward Springer and then on east to the town of Gene Autry. Gene Autry is NOT a ghost town. Gene Autry is changed quite a bit but it is still there and doing business. It is not really a ghost town, although, it did play dead for a while. It was like the Phoenix and has lifted itself out of the ashes.

The Ardmore Industrial Park, which is a short distance away has given the town a real boost. The business section has grown and many fine new homes appear all around the hills of the area. There are no vacant houses and they have at least two very beautiful churches. They no longer have a school, but the old building is used as a museum. The Old Berwin school building now houses the Gene Autry Oklahoma Museum of Local History. When the town of Berwin gave up its name to be called "Gene Autry," the school kept the name Berwin.

Cornish (Jefferson Co) has been pretty well absorbed into the Ringling Metroplex.

ADDINGTON is loacted in south central Oklahoma, Jefferson County, Sec. 6-T4S-R7W, 6 miles north, 2 miles east of Waurika. Post Office 8 January 1896. Newspaper - Addington Free Lance; Addintong Advertiser; Addington Journal; Addington Herald. Railroads - Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad. It's start in the 1890s after the Rock Island extended its tracks southward from Minco to the Red River. Town incorporated in 1901.

ACME is located in south central Oklahoma, Grady County, Sec. 23-T4N-R8E, 17 miles south, 4 miles west of Chickasha; 1 mile north, 3 miles west of Rush Springs. Post Office established 8 Arpil 1913 thru 29 March 1931. Railroad town with Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad, abandoned 1930. Acme develloped when the Acme Cement and Plaster Company built a large mill and power plant at the site in 1911.
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