Cities and Townships of Dewey County, Oklahoma

Camargo is situated approximately equidistance between Leedey and Vici on State Highway 34. Dewey County, originally known as D County, was created from the former Cheyenne and Arapaho Reservation after it was opened to non-Indian settlers on April 19, 1892. Subsequently, a post office was established at Camargo on September 16, 1892, with Rosa Meek as postmaster. Although historian George Shirk asserts that Camargo was named for an Illinois town, another source claims that Camargo is a Cheyenne word meaning "little dog." In 1912 the Wichita Falls and Northwestern Railway (later the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway, or Katy) built a line between Leedey and Forgan, Beaver County, that passed through Camargo. That same year the Camargo Comet newspaper began serving the citizenry. Farming and ranching sustained Camargo's early economy. By 1915 the town had four general stores, two hotels, two lumber yards, and two grain elevators. In the 1930s Camargo had a cotton gin and a blacksmith shop. Crossing the (South) Canadian River at Camargo remained a hazardous feat until a 2,912-foot-long bridge was completed in December 1954. Previously a tractor and trailer operated as a ferry to transport or pull vehicles across the mud and sand. In 1972-73 railroad service was suspended. Prior to rail suspension, bentonite was mined and shipped from Camargo. Other shipments included livestock, wheat, and gravel. The first federal census for Camargo reported 291 inhabitants in 1930. Despite the Great Depression, numbers remained steady with 289 counted in 1940. Population peaked at 312 in 1950. Since then numbers have declined to 264 and 185 reported in 1980 and 1990, respectively. At the turn of the twenty-first century Camargo had 115 residents. All of those employed commuted to work. A prominent resident was U.S. Sen. Joshua "Josh" Lee who owned a ranch nearby.

Leedey is located two miles north of the junction of State Highways 34 and 47. Named for early settler Amos Leedey, the town is situated in the southwestern corner of Dewey County. Originally known as D County, Dewey County was created after the Cheyenne-Arapaho Reservation was opened for non-Indian settlement on April 19, 1892. The post office was established on January 6, 1900, with Leedey as the first postmaster. The community grew after the Wichita Falls and Northwestern Railway (later part of the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad, or Katy) completed a line between Elk City and Leedey in 1911. On October 11 that year Leedey incorporated. In 1916 two early newspapers, the Leedey Times and the Leedey Herald, merged to become the Leedey Times and Herald. Agriculture and oil and gas industries have contributed to the town's economy. In 1912 Leedey farmers shipped 485 railroad cars loaded with broomcorn. In 1923 Leedey was touted as the latest oil-boom town due to drilling in the area. In the 1930s two broomcorn warehouses and a grain elevator operated. The first federal census reported for Leedey indicated 468 inhabitants in 1920. Population increased and peaked at 646 in 1930, possibly due to oil well drilling during the 1920s. Numbers have decreased from 574 in 1940 to 499 in 1980. On May 31, 1947, a tornado hit Leedey, killing six and injuring fifteen individuals. Approximately 20 businesses and 147 homes were destroyed. The War Assets Administration (WAA) offered surplus barracks from Fort Sill to house Leedey's homeless residents. Also, the WAA sold at a reduced price telephone equipment from the Oklahoma Ordnance Works. Fifty years later in May 1997, townspeople remembered the disaster with a week-long commemoration called "Roll of Thunder." In November 2001 another disaster hit the small town when a fire destroyed three businesses. In September 1962 townspeople buried a time capsule containing historical information about the town and Dewey County. The capsule will be opened on October 11, 2011, during the town's centennial. The town's only restaurant is a post-World War II diner (a prefabricated eatery produced by the Valentine Manufacturing Company of Wichita, Kansas) that was moved from Sayre to Leedey in 1993. At the turn of the twenty-first century Leedey had 345 residents, of whom 95.6 percent of those employed commuted to work. The school district had an enrollment of 188 in grades prekindergarten through twelve. Film star Darla Hood hailed from Leedey. Some of her personal items and other local artifacts are housed there in the Boswell Museum.

Oakwood is located on State Highway 3/U.S. Highways 270/281, twenty miles southeast of Seiling, within the former Cheyenne and Arapaho Reservation. After the reservation opened to settlement in 1892, homesteaders built farms and raised wheat and livestock in the broad plain around the Canadian River. Future Oakwood would be placed in a valley in the southeast corner of the county in Sickle Township, where the population in 1900 reached 1,276. Farm families traded with Milton F. Mills at his trading post and received their mail there. In 1902, as the Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Railway (KCM&O) built its tracks through Dewey County, developers became interested. The Union Real Estate and Townsite Company, of Jackson County, Missouri, purchased the area and in May 1903 surveyed and platted a fifty-block town. While some area residents wanted to call the new place Edsallville, after a local family prominent in its development, they settled on Oakwood, because of the oak trees nearby. A business community rapidly developed, and in 1905 the KCM&O finished its line from Fairview to Oakwood. The next year it continued on to Foley. Town lots briskly sold in 1905 and 1906. M. F. Collins set up a blacksmith shop, D. S. Edsall a hardware store, and Jacob Place a general store. The Oakwood Bank opened in 1907. Walter Clem printed the Oakwood News in the early decades. A telephone company operated from 1908, and travelers arriving at the depot, built in 1908, could stay at the Lancet Hotel and rent a rig at the Clay Rogers livery stable. By 1908 an unofficial census registered 200, and in 1910 the U.S. Census officially numbered 199. Agriculture supported the town's economy, with corn of various kinds, wheat, and cotton being produced. Thousands of cattle were shipped each year from a large stockyards area at the tracks. The bustling town incorporated in 1909. Two schools provided education. Despite a fire in 1912 that destroyed all of Main Street's north-side, wood-frame business buildings, the town rebounded. By 1918 three grain elevators and a cotton gin operated. When population peaked at 266 in 1930, the inhabitants supported thirty-five businesses and Christian and Methodist churches. As with most small Oklahoma towns, the Great Depression and World War II took a toll. By 1960 only 122 people called Oakwood home. By 1974 only five businesses remained. Four churches still operated, but the schools had closed, the students being served by Canton, Taloga, and Seiling. In 2000 the census recorded 72 residents. Oakwood organized a one hundredth anniversary celebration in July 2003. Four hundred people attended and participated in a parade, a picnic, and tours of historical business and residential sites around town.

Putnam is situated thirteen miles south of the county seat of Taloga on U.S. Highway 183. Named for Revolutionary War hero Gen. Israel Putnam, a post office was established on June 4, 1895, with Lyman Reed serving as the first postmaster. Robert F. Cain edited the weekly Putnam Pioneer newspaper begun in 1904. The first federal census for Putnam indicated a population of 140 in 1930. In the 1930s the town supported two schools and three churches. Putnam served as a trade center for farmers who grew wheat and oats. The town's growth was stunted by the fact that the railroad bypassed it. In 1950 Putnam had 106 residents. The population has continued to decline from 83 in 1960 to 74 in 1980. In 2000 the town had 46 inhabitants of which 88.9 percent of those employed commuted to work.

Seiling is located in north-central Dewey County in northwest Oklahoma and immediately south of the North Canadian River and approximately seven miles north of the "South" Canadian River. The town lies at the intersection of U.S. Highways 183/270/281 and State Highway 3 north-south and U.S. Highway 60 and State Highway 31 east-west and is ten miles from Taloga, the county seat. A mid-nineteenth-century military road passed north and south through the area near the location of future Seiling and toward the site of Taloga. Once a part of the Cheyenne and Arapaho nations' lands, the county was on the pathway for herds going from Texas to Kansas along the Western Trail. The Cheyenne-Arapaho Opening of April 1892 brought in non-Indian settlers. On May 5, 1894, a post office was designated to be placed in a store operated by Louis Seiling, for whom the town is named, on the homestead he had acquired in the land run. Subsequently, on his quarter-section a town called Hobson was developed by the Hobson Town and Improvement Company. The name Seiling was adopted in January 1899, and the town was platted soon after that. Despite the fact that Seiling never attracted a railroad and was more than twenty-five miles from the nearest depot at Canton, the community quickly flourished. As the town lay between the two Canadian rivers, which had no bridges until 1905 and 1908, local farmers did business there, rather than traveling to towns across the rivers, especially during flood season. Seiling incorporated on April 5, 1909. By that time the population had reached 352. Residents enjoyed Christian, Methodist, Friends (Quaker), and Presbyterian churches, a public school, two banks, and four hotels. Local industries included two concrete block plants and a sash-and-door factory. The Seiling Guide, established 1901, printed the news, and residents kept their money in the Bank of Seiling and in the First National Bank. Entertainment was provided by a town band formed in 1903 and by horse racing. The Seiling area has been farming country since the opening of the reservation to non-Indian settlement in 1892. The region's farms were heavy producers of broomcorn and cotton, and a cotton gin and a feed mill provided agricultural services in the early years. Wheat and rye became important before World War I, and in 1918 Fred Sander opened a large flour mill that operated until 1952. Its "White Rose Special" flour was a popular product. The Seiling Milling Company has been listed in the National Register of Historic Places (NR 83004167). Agriculture declined somewhat after the war, and by 1920 some of Seiling's residents had left, but the town still sheltered 323 people. The population rebounded to 568 in 1930 despite the ill effects of the Great Depression. An important seasonal economic activity revolved round horse racing and associated tourism. A horse track operated as early as 1903. A larger track facility was built before World War I, and the Seiling Race Meet was organized circa 1925. The spring and fall three-day race meets also included carnivals and other attractions. The track was complete with grandstands and barns. Seiling came to be known as the Little Louisville of Oklahoma racing. Expanded to six-day meets and conducted under the auspices of the Oklahoma Racing Association, which formed in 1948, the activity was still ongoing through 1951. During the horse-racing season, dog races were also conducted there, making this the state's only dual-purpose track. In the early twentieth century the Seiling political scene was identified with several national movements. Prohibition lecturer Carrie Nation resided there during the early 1900s. During the Progressive Era D. C. Kirkpatrick, a member of the Socialist Party, was elected to the Oklahoma House of Representatives from Dewey County in 1914, serving one term, and Socialists were elected to five of thirteen county offices. Seiling's population grew consistently throughout the twentieth century. By World War II it stood at 629, and during the 1950s and 1960s it almost doubled, reaching 1,033 by 1970. Petroleum discoveries during the 1950s extended an oil field southwestward from Major County into Dewey County. In the 1960s, after the Seiling Townsite Number One well was completed, the Seiling Field expanded southward. In 1968 Shell Oil Company and fifty-two other producers constructed a natural gasoline plant west of town. It opened in June 1968 and extracted gasoline from natural gas delivered via the Panhandle Eastern Pipeline Company line from western Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle. The plant provided employment for a number of area residents, as did facilities opened by Phillips Petroleum Company, Rock Island Oil Company, and Mobil Oil Company in the 1960s. Renewed prosperity enabled the improvement of city services. An airport, a hospital, a city park, a swimming pool, and a golf course served residents from the 1970s forward. At the beginning of the twenty-first century Seiling remained an agriculture-oriented community of 875 residents. The public school district enrolled 380 students in grades prekindergarten through twelve. The Dewey County Record provided access to local, state, and national news. In addition to the Seiling Mill, the McAllister House is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Due in part to its location as a highway crossroads, Seiling remained Dewey County's largest town

Vici lies twenty-one miles south of Woodward on State Highway 34 at its intersection with U.S. Highway 60/State Highway 51. In February 1899 Albert Vincent received a permit to establish a post office two and one-half miles southeast of the present Vici site. He served as postmaster, and the mail came from Beement, six miles east. Vincent soon moved his post office/store to a spot three-fourths of a mile south of present Vici, and another store was moved there from Beement in 1902. That was the beginning of "Old Vici." More businesses followed, including a hotel, and a school appeared. On May 10, 1908, a tornado blew away the entire town, and the townspeople all huddled in a cave. There were no injuries, and residents quickly rebuilt their homes and business houses. The Vici Visitor was printed weekly in 1906, followed by the Vici Beacon from 1911. Transportation access stimulated further growth. In 1911-12 the Wichita Falls and Northwestern Railway (later part of the Missouri, Kansas and Texas, or Katy) constructed a line past "Old Vici." Deciding to relocate closer to the railroad, residents moved their buildings to the new location by placing them on large axles and wheels pulled by horse-powered block and tackle. The business firm of Kell and Kent built the first building in "New Vici" and filed a town plat on September 11, 1911. Most of the business buildings were placed or constructed on an east-west street, Broadway; Main Street intersected and also served as a commercial artery. Many of the early buildings were still in use at the beginning of the twenty-first century. In 1911-12 a bank, a hardware store, and other businesses moved to "New Vici" from Cestos, a community to the east. A Dr. Houser came from Missouri to practice medicine and to be the postmaster. He built the new town's first brick building. Thomas Ray and sons Albert and Jesse came from Kiowa, Kansas, in January 1916 and bought Houser's building for a general store, which the family operated until 1983. The upper story housed the Masonic and Eastern Star hall for many years. Vici was a prosperous agricultural-products shipping point in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s. A 1920 population of 425 grew to 617 in 1940. In 1937 Vici's two-story school was replaced by a larger facility that was enlarged in the 1980s as rural school consolidation brought new students to town. Population declined after World War II, and by 1960 only 601 people inhabited the town. Ranching, oil and gas activity, and a large nursing home provided the economic base in the late twentieth century. Although railroad service ended in 1972, the town grew to 845 residents by 1980. Vici maintains a mayor and town board form of government. The 2000 census recorded 668 residents.

Taloga lies almost in the center of the county and is situated in the horseshoe bend of the main (South) Canadian River. The town is accessed by State Highway 183 and is thirty-seven miles north of Clinton, Oklahoma. It has been said that the Taloga is an Indian word meaning "beautiful valley," although in other accounts it is a Creek word meaning "rocking water." Taloga was within County D, created from the Cheyenne and Arapaho Reservation, which was opened for non-Indian settlement by land run on April 19, 1892. Prior to the opening, federal surveyors had laid out the townsite surveyed on 320 acres, and a post office had been authorized. The plat included a courthouse square, and a business district and lots were set aside for churches and residences. During the first days of settlement, members of the original Dalton gang, as well as other outlaws of the day, are said to have filed on lots, using fictitious names. The first public water well, dug in the intersection of Main and Broadway streets, was used as a watering place for decades. Early businesses included Emery Black's livery stable, dentist W. T. Raffington, Dr. E. W. Vanbrunt, John Dedrick, photographer, and Milton Shultise's mercantile store. The first County D offices were housed in a frame building at Main and Broadway. By 1898 the town's several hundred residents included eight livestock dealers and breeders, and in 1901 a courthouse was constructed. In 1906 the community incorporated, and after statehood, with 430 inhabitants, Taloga remained the seat of Dewey County, as D County was renamed. A more modern county building erected in 1925 is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. A concrete jail constructed south of the courthouse and used from 1922 until 1981 houses the Dewey County Jailhouse Museum. The community's population in 1910 was 468, and in 1920, at 365, according to the U.S. Census. In the 1910s the town supported three churches, two banks and two weekly newspapers, the Taloga Advocate and the Taloga Times, which later combined and became the Taloga Times-Advocate. Educational institutions were important to early-day citizens. A normal school was opened in 1901 for students wishing to further their education past the eighth grade. In 1923 a new public school building was erected, only to burn in 1930 and to be rebuilt in another part of town. This second school burned in 1981 and was replaced by a modern facility on the same grounds. Despite never having had railroad access, the town remained the county seat. By the 1920s Taloga flourished, as evidenced by the construction of a new courthouse, jail, and school. An electric plant operated, and streetlights were installed. A flour mill and ice plant operated, and a large community building was erected on Broadway. A hotel was built on Main Street. Lloyd's Hospital, a private facility, opened in 1929 and served as the county's only hospital. Despite the Great Depression's onset, the 1930 population stood at 436 and increased to 533 before World War II. Economic activities before the war included farming, produce raising, and livestock raising. Petroleum exploration began in Dewey County in the 1920s, and since the 1950s oil and gas production has added to the community's wealth. Farming and ranching remained important throughout the twentieth century, and various small-town agribusinesses and a bank continued to serve area farmers. Prekindgergarten through grade twelve enrolled 131 students in 2005. In 2000 the U.S. Census counted 372 residents.

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