Stringtown, Oklahoma: Difference between revisions

{{Other uses|Stringtown (disambiguation)}}

{{Infobox settlement

|official_name = Stringtown, Oklahoma

|timezone_DST = CDT

|utc_offset_DST = -5

|website =

|postal_code_type = [[ZIP code]]

|area_code = [[Area code 580|580]]

|blank_name = [[Federal Information Processing Standard|FIPS code]]

|blank1_name = [[Geographic Names Information System|GNIS]] feature ID

|pop_est_as_of =

|pop_est_footnotes =

}}

 

 

The town is notable for the '''Mack H. Alford Correctional Center''', a medium-security prison operated by the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, just outside Stringtown.

 

==Geography==

According to the [[United States Census Bureau]], the town has a total area of {{convert|12.2|km2|disp=flip}}, of which {{convert|12.1|km2|disp=flip}} is land and {{convert|0.2|km2|disp=flip}}, or 1.24%, is water.<ref name="Census 2010"/>

 

 

==History==

[[Image:Stringtown Dance Hall.jpg|left|thumb|The abandoned dance hall where Deputy Eugene C. Moore was shot and killed by the Barrow Gang in 1932]]

Sources differ as to the origins of the name: one suggests the original name was Springtown for a local sulphur spring but a spelling mistake labeled it Stringtown, while another suggests it got the name because businesses were strung out along the railroad tracks.<ref name=OHS>{{cite web|url=https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=ST050 |title=Stringtown|publisher=Oklahoma Historical Society|access-date=December 28, 2020}}</ref> Once home to a bank, theater, and pub, the town has grown recently, both economically and in population. Companies noticing business opportunities in game hunting. population growth since the 1990 census and the addition of a new café have brought new life to the town. Annually in September, the Good Ole Days Festival celebrates the town's past with a parade, cookout, and concert.

 

A post office was established at Stringtown, Indian Territory on August 17, 1874. For a few weeks in July 1877 the official name of the post office was Sulphur Springs, Indian Territory. the present name is a modification of Springtown, the original name of the settlement. At the time of its founding, Stringtown was located in [[Atoka County, Choctaw Nation]], a territorial-era government unit that included parts of today's Atoka, Coal, Hughes, and Pittsburg counties.<ref>Morris, John W. ''Historical Atlas of Oklahoma'' (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1986), plate 38; Shirk, George H. ''Oklahoma Place Names'' (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1965), p. 199.</ref>

 

In the late 1960s, a [[tornado]] touched down in the town directly on top of the (then) recently built Community Center, now the Senior Citizens Center. The tornado was only on the ground for a few seconds, but during that time the building was almost destroyed. It was an unusual occurrence for a tornado to touch down in the town itself, given its location between two chains of steep hills.

 

 

 

The Garside house is one of the biggest historical sites of the town, next to the Bonnie and Clyde monument. The land the Garside house sits on was allotted to Joseph and Sarah Garside and their two children in 1902. In the middle of building the house, a tornado came through the town and tore down the part of the house that had been built. The Garsides had to start over again, but in 1915 they finished a two-story house. The house and land was later purchased by E. H. Colbertson, the first white man to buy land in that area. Approximately four years ago, the house was remodeled and decorated to be a museum.

 

Stringtown was once home to a [[sawmill]] and a [[cotton gin]] that had the biggest production rate in the late 1800s. When a fire burnt the town on July 15, 1954, the sawmill and cotton gin burned down, along with half the town, including a café, a jailhouse, a barbershop, a bank, and a hotel. All that was left was Robert’s Store and a few homes. The town never really was rebuilt after this. Today, there is a school, a church, a fire department, City Hall, Dianna’s Store, and a senior citizens center.

 

==Government and infrastructure==

* [[Bettis Garside|B.A. Garside]], executive director of United China Relief

* [[Reba McEntire]], country singer

* [[Tyrus McGee]] (born 1991), basketball player in the [[Israel Basketball Premier League]]

* [[Crystal Robinson]], former professional basketball player WNBA

 

==References==