Pottawatomie County Oklahoma History

Pottawaomie County, Oklahoma History

Asher dates back to 1892 when George "Matt" Asher, from Clay County, Kentucky, purchased land in Oklahoma Territory from a Shawnee estate salesperson to set up his farm home. The post office was established in 1901 when the postmaster of nearby Avoca, Oklahoma, George A. McCurry, moved the Avoca post office and his store to the new community that would become Asher. This was done without permission from the government and left Avoca without a post office. According to the tale, McCurry was given a home and store building as payment for moving the post office to the new settlement. The town was named for Mr. Asher, who supplied the land with the consideration the community would carry his namesake. There was a sale of public lots in 1902. Asher is the last remaining post office in the original Avoca Township, which also included the towns of Sacred Heart Mission, Osmit, Avoca, Meanko, Boyer and Violet. On October 12, 1900, the Choctaw, Oklahoma and Gulf (CO&G) bought the Shawnee to Tecumseh Railway branch from the Tecumseh Railway Co. and promptly extended the branch to Asher. For the next 40 years, Asher would serve as the termination point for the branch and its engine, "Old Beck." Rapid construction of railroads opened up 400 square miles (1,000 km²) of a fertile section of the South Canadian River valley to shipping facilities. Asher was the trade center and market of the area. Further development came when, on January 15, 1903, The Jennings Company closed on 1,000 business and residence lots. The Jennings Company advertised investment in the growing town and new factories and industries of various kinds soon located in Asher.Asher and the new settlers had hopes of creating a large city. However, the settlers were disappointed when the towns of Seminole and Konawa were built and took away much of Asher’s trade. The people of Asher would not give up, and pulled together town resources and constructed a bridge across the Canadian River. The state then used the bridge in its construction of State Highway 18, drawing a small amount of trade to the area from nearby cities, such as Ada. Before the construction of the bridge, those south of Asher could only cross the river when it was shallow enough.Asher, originally a cotton farming community, suffered in its early years from crop losses caused by boll weevils. Farmers were then dealt a further blow when the town’s first two cotton gins were destroyed by fire. These set backs compounded the loss of trade and left the town in dire straits. In 1927, oil was discovered in and around the town. Asher sprang up almost overnight to serve the needs of the oil workers. It was also around this time that executives moved into Asher and purchased enormous amounts of supplies and merchandise at inflated prices. There were many businesses in town including feed and grocery stores, jewelry stores and drug stores as well as banks, barber shops, hotels and a small theater. Many leading families of Oklahoma, such as the McAlisters, the Campbells and the Byruns, lived in the town. There were also many doctors with offices in Asher. For a while, Asher became prosperous. After the oil boom the town became less prosperous and many people moved to follow the oil boom furthur west.

Corner was located in the extreme southeastern corner of Pottawatomie County and on the north bank of the Canadian River about fifty miles southeast of the center of Oklahoma. It is believed to have began its exsistance in 1889 when a saloon was opened in the southeastern corner of what then was the Pottawatomie and Shawnee lands of Indian Territroy, a spot that the next year would officially become the southeastern corner of Oklahoma Territory. A corner postoffice was established in March of 1903 in what had become the territorial county of Pottawatomie. It is unsure if the town got its name from its corner position or was a derivative of the first owner of the saloon owner, Bill Conners. It received notority when the four men that were hung in Ada, as two of the men Joe Allen and Jesse West were saloon operators as well as cattlemen from Corner. Corner as a place itself was remembered as a rowdy and dangerous spot in Oklahoma Territory where liquor was legal. It was bordered on the east by the Seminole nation and to the south, and across the river, the Chickasaw Nation, where it wasn't. The town apparently exsisted for quite some time as just a saloon, which was said to be the site of frequent gunplay and other acts of violence and vile behavior. Corner also stands out in history as the place where a word was coined, a term that has long since been associated throughout the nation with illegal liquor. The post office was closed in 1906. the saloon had either gone out of business or begun losing most of its customers the following year with statehood and prohibition, and it was never placed on the official state map. Other names associated with Corner was George "Hooky" Miller who was one of the Corner saloon barteneders, but was also a gun-fighter (he wore a steel hook after losing a hand in a gunfight). Hoyte Mayfield, who many years later lived near the site of old Corner, said he was told that his great-uncle George Hill was the last owner of the infamous old saloon. Harold Raper who farmed near the old Corner site said his kinfolks tore down the last old building of Corner to build a barn on the site. Corner is also known as where the term "bootlegger" came into exsistence, since men would come in and buy whiskey by the pint and put it in their boot and take it across into Indian Territory.
Source: Ghost Town Tales of Oklahoma by Jim Marion Etter

Jesse Chisholm, Indian trader, guide, and interpreter, was born in the Hiawassee region of Tennessee, probably in 1805 or 1806. His father, Ignatius Chisholm, was of Scottish ancestry and had worked as a merchant and slave trader in the Knoxville area in the 1790s. Around 1800 he married a Cherokee woman in the Hiawassee area, with whom he had three sons; Jesse was the eldest. Sometime thereafter Ignatius Chisholm separated from Jesse's mother and moved to Arkansas Territory. His mother evidently took Jesse Chisholm to Arkansas with Tahlonteskee's group in 1810. During the late 1820s he moved to the Cherokee Nation and settled near Fort Gibson in what is now eastern Oklahoma. Chisholm became a trader and in 1836 married Eliza Edwards, daughter of James Edwards, who ran a trading post in what is now Hughes County, Oklahoma. Chisholm took trade goods west and south into the Plains Indian country, learned a dozen or so languages, established small trading posts, and was soon in demand as a guide and interpreter. Eventually he interpreted treaties in Texas, Indian Territory, and Kansas. Jesse Chisholm was known early as an honest trader, and by this honesty, became a peacemaker. He was not only an interpreter for the U. S. Army officials but he had great influence among the red warriors. Everywhere he was a peacemaker and a pathfinder. At one time he was adopted into almost a dozen Indian tribes of Oklahoma. He was always a Good Samaritan. The wild Comanche’s knew they could capture children in Texas and then sell them to Jesse Chisholm in Oklahoma. If he couldn't find their people, he adopted the children himself. He had stores at different places; one two miles east of Asher, one at Council Grove, a few miles west of the present Oklahoma City; one near the mouth of the Little River, and another near the present town of Purcell. One of his greatest activities was his pack train, which was a traveling store on wheels. In reality it was a department store on mule-back. He early learned that the Indians did not like to come east into the timber section and hence he went to them. He would equip his trains and go to the center of the Indian tribe. He packed his trains with things the Indians liked and admired, red calico, beads, paints, but he never took them whiskey. No written chronicle has been compiled on this great character from 1830, and his meager history is written in good deeds. Chisholm died of food poisoning after eating Buffalo meat that had been cooked in a copper kettle at Left Hand Spring, near the site of present Geary, Oklahoma, on April 4, 1868.

Information furnished by “Handbook of Texas Online”, Jesse Chisholm III

Earlsboro has twice been a boom town of considerable importance and twice a decaying, disintergrating, and dilapidated village. It was formed in 1891 a few days after the Choctaw Coal and Railroad Company extended its tracks westward from the Seminole Nation. The town was platted under the name of Boom-De-Ay. A post office by the name of Tum was moved to the new site, and the name was changed to Earlsboro on June 12, 1895. Earlsboro became known as a whiskey town since it was so close to the Indian Territory where whiskey was prohibited. Three of the first four businesses established were saloons and the other was a grocery store. The number of saloons and stores handling liquor continually increased and to dominate activites until 1905. During that year it was estimated that 90 percent of the merchants were dealing profitably in liquor. With approaching statehood, however, many liquor dealers started moving their activities to other states, and the first boom period ended. Along with the whiskey trade, Earlsboro developed as a small commercial center serving nearby farmers. A blacksmith shop, gristmill, and cotton gin were built. Churches were started and a school district was organized. Some streets were graded and homes were constructed. There were many newspapers that served Earlsboro through out the years including: the Earlsboro Border Jounal, Earlsboro Echo, Earlsboro Plain People, Earlsboro Times, Earlsboro Journal and the Earlsboro Messenger. A railroad boxcar served as a depot and the village became a regular stop for passenger service. Population in 1891 was about 100 and by 1900 had increased to 400. and it continued to increase until 1905 when it reached an estimated 500 people. The special census of 1907 showed only 387, the decrease being accounted for by the moving of liquor dealers. During this time period some of the founding families were Lina P. Helm his wife and 8 children. Isaac Benjamin Littleton his wife and children. They were both active in prohibitation, schools for the children and the upcoming statehood. I.B. Littleton represented his part of the county at the Constitutional Convention of Oklahoma. In the 1920's census showed only 317. The situation completely abruptly changed on March 1, 1926 when the first oil well to be a commercial producer when it blew in. The Earlsboro Sand was peneterated at a depth of 3, 557 feet, and oil started flowing at a rate of 200 barrells a day. This discovery started a violent oil boom, speculation in royalty rights and leases mounted rapidly. Once again Earlsboro grew rapidly. Within months the population had soared from 5,000 to 10,000 people. Soon Main street was lined with stores of all types, the post office had to change to general delivery, but one of the biggest problems the town had was transportation. There were no paved roads in the community and because of the heavy traffic every road leading to Earlsboro was either a cloud of dust or a sea of mud. By 1928 the boom was beginning to settle and the population was estimated at 4000 but by 1930 it had decreased to 1950. Census records of 1940 was 486. The town still exsists but is a broken hull of the twice-booming community. About 40 homes remain but most have not been painted since the 1930's. One block of brick buildings in the business area remain but only 3 are occupied. By 1970 only 248 were recorded. The only question now is how long will this small town continue to exsist. Older residents said there is always hope for another boom. Only time will tell.

Keokuk Falls is believed to have begun with a store opened in 1888 by Henry C. Jones, a half Sac and Fox Indian, and expanded in 1891 in the south edge of the Sac and Fox Indian reservation when the region of rolling prairies and scattered oak trees just north of the North Fork of the Canadian River opened to white settlement. Its post office opened in January 1892 and its name was taken from Moses Keokuk, a Sac & Fox chief. Keokuk Falls is the home of the immortal Jim Thorpe, the Indian who won both the Decathlon and Pentathlon and a pile of medals in the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm, Sweeden, and became regarded as the greatest athlete to ever live.. It's also remembered for its reputation. Since it bordered the lands of four Indian tribes (Sac & Fox, Pottawatomie, Shawnee and the Seminole), and was pretty much on the border of Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory--with liquor banned in one place and easily available in the other. It once was considered the drinking capital of Indian country and was indisputably the wildest towns on the Western frontier. All that remains of this town is a historical monument; an old foundation and celler in a former school yard that had become a pasture; and a "Welcome to Kekouk Falls" sign on a private mail box and a cemetery. The town lost its illegal attractions about the time of statehood in 1907, its post office closed in February of 1918. The old post office was torn down in 1962. The town was built near where a small falls in the river had been considered a head of naviagation on that river for several years, is said to have had stores, cotton gins, sawmills, three hotels, several doctors, at least one restruant. It's reported that mail came by stage from Sapulpa to the Sac and Fox Agency and then to Kekokuk Falls by horseback. Keokuk Falls also at one time had two distilleries, seven saloons--including the Black Dog, Red Front, adn the biggest at one time, Tomlinson and Rooney's where whiskey sold for 10 cents a shot and beed a nickel a glass--and a coffin factory. But it apparently never had a jail or a church house. It was considered a hangout for the worst desperadoes and the meanest town in the history of the two territories. Notorious outlaws came through, it is said, on the scout from lawmen or on bootlegging or horse stealing missions to and from the nearby Creek and Seminole nations. It's recorded that once lawmen came in to stop a big gun battle they took out 12 prisioners in a wagon, with one dead and two wounded and left three dead horses on the main street. A stagecoach that frequently stopped there said if you stayed there about twenty minutes you would often see a man killed.
Source: Ghost Town Tales of Oklahoma by Jim Marion Etter and Grace Thorpe (Jim Thorpe's daughter)

Sacred Heart is intertwined with the birth, life and demise of the Sacred Heart Mission. In 1876 Father Isidore Robot, a member of the Order of Saint Benedict, while on a missionary journey visited the area then recently settled by the Pottawatomie Indians. He was invited to stay with them and to organize a school and a church. The Sacred Heart Mission Post Office opened on January 30, 1879 and closed on May 24, 1888. The Post Office for the town of Sacred Heart opened May 24, 1888 and closed August 31, 1954. The newspaper was the Indian Advocate. The site selected for the school and mission was a well known landmark called Bald Hill. A branch of an old military road from Fort Smith to western forts crossed at the base of the hill. With the help of the Indians a log house suitable for both church and school was built. Small log cabins for living quarters were also built. Recognizing the need for a school for girls, the Convent of the Immaculate Heart of Mary was erected a short distance from the mission. Nuns came from Illinois and New Orleans to conduct the school. In due time an abbey and other buildings were completed. On January 15. 1900 a fire destroyed all the principal buildings and most of the lesser ones as well. The town was not immediately affected by the fire. Hopes were high that the railroad building from Shawnee to Ada would come thru Sacred Heart; instead the tracks were laid three miles east toward Konawa. During the 1925-35 years a store and a few homes were added, for the village had visions of an oil boom. However, only one well was attempted. Old foundations and outlines of abbey and school buildings remain. A two-story log hut, said to be part of the first structure built still stands. It became the shoe shop in which the cobbler worked on the first floor and lived on the second. A rock building used as the bakery also remains. The cemetery in which the early fathers and lay brothers were buried is on the same grounds, just east of where the school buildings were. East of the present church is a more recent cemetery, but directly across the road from it is an old weed-covered cemetery used by the Indian residents of the area many years ago. The remains of store buildings stand on both sides of what was the main street of Sacred Heart village. A few homes, built along the section line east from the village are in use. The rock school building used by the public school district remains. The large Catholic church on Bald Hill now reflects the memory of Sacred Heart, mission and village.

Violet Springs sounds like a peace loving community, but in reality it was far from that. Located less that one-half mile from the boundary of Oklahoma Territory and the Seminole Nation, was one of the most wild and wooly whiskey towns along that line. It was founded in the early 1890's and it flourished as a whiskey town. Between 1895 and 1905 Violet Springs had five stores and eight saloons. It's post office opened on April 6, 1899 and closed on September 28, 1906. Three doctors were kept busy most of the time as there was a steady influx of Indians and wild men from the surrounding territory. A cemetery was started across the road from the town. As late as 1927 one corner of the "city of the dead" was reserved for those who had met violent deaths in the turbelent life of that frontier town. A strong jail, outlived the town by several years was in constant use when the place had a marshal. The population was about six hundred people. Farmers traded in the town, since it had a blacksmith shop, two cotton gins, a sawmill, and a saddle shop. The Masons, Modern Woodmen, Knights of Pythias and 100F were all active. A one-room school was built near Violet Springs, but there never was a church building. On a few occasions circuit riders came thru and held services in the school house. In 1899 a fire destroyed every store building and a few homes. Those merchants that rebuilt located two blocks north of the area that burned. In 1903 the Oklahoma City-Ada-Atoka Railroad routed its tracks east of the town when the townsite developers failed to meet its demands. The new town of Konawa, location on the railroad just inside the Seminole Nation was founded in 1904. By 1907 most merchants had moved to Seminole. Then statehood prohibited the sale of whiskey so the saloons either closed down or moved to other states. Their is nothing that remains of this town now, and it is strictly used for agriculture. The cemetery, however, does remain and is located across the road from the Konawa Cemetery.