Dilworth, Oklahoma Explained

Dilworth was one of the many oil boomtowns created in Kay County, Oklahoma during the early part of the 20th Century.[1] It was located about 10.5 miles northwest of Newkirk, the county seat, or about 14 miles by present-day roads.[2] [3] While it is now designated a Populated Place, it is considered a ghost town.[2] [1] [4]

History

Dilworth was founded about November 1916, in a booming oil field variously known as the Blackwell field or the Dilworth field.[5] [6] [7] In that same year, the Oil Fields Short Line Railroad was completed into Dilworth from a connection point called Clifford off the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway.[8] 1916 also saw Dilworth get its own weekly newspaper, the Dilworth New Era, which on its masthead called Dilworth “The City of the Flowing Gold,” and placed the town “in the Heart of the Oil Fields.”[9] [10] A Post Office opened in April 1917.[11] A vote to incorporate as the Town of Dilworth passed in late October 1917, and the first town ordinances were promulgated in March 1918.[12] [13] The population of Dilworth climbed to several thousand.[14] At one time it had a grain elevator, 4 or 5 business houses, 2 stores, a lumber yard, a Doctor's office, and a garage.[15] A panorama photograph of Dilworth circa 1925 shows a substantial little town had been constructed.[16]

However, the boom was short lived. By the end of 1923, the population was down to about 50, and the Oil Fields Short Line Railroad, by then losing money, abandoned the route into Dilworth.[15] In March 1929, the Newkirk Herald-Journal reported Dilworth was on the verge of losing its Post Office, and that the town which was once the “oil capitol of the county” had dropped into the class of Kay County's ghost oil towns.[14]

References

36.9414°N -97.2281°W

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Kay County. Oklahoma Historical Society. August 1, 2022. November 11, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20201111194124/https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=KA009. live.
  2. Web site: Dilworth (in Kay County, OK) Populated Place Profile. HomeTownLocator. August 1, 2022. August 12, 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140812043825/http://oklahoma.hometownlocator.com/ok/kay/dilworth.cfm. live.
  3. Web site: Newkirk, Oklahoma to Dilworth, Oklahoma. Google Maps. August 1, 2022. August 2, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220802220333/https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Newkirk,+OK/Dilworth,+OK+74632/@36.9182956,-97.2570241,12z/data=%214m13%214m12%211m5%211m1%211s0x87b08856d0b7508f:0x9a33ff2bde44e62d%212m2%211d-97.0533717%212d36.8822549%211m5%211m1%211s0x87b07afb8510c1a1:0xccfc487c36b73c95%212m2%211d-97.2280976%212d36.9414189. live.
  4. Web site: Kay County Genealogy Resources. Travel Oklahoma. August 1, 2022. January 10, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220110221811/https://www.travelok.com/article_page/kay-county-genealogy-resources. live.
  5. Web site: New Oil Town Ready. November 2, 1916 . Drumright Evening Derrick, November 2, 1916 (accessed on Oklahoma Historical Society). August 2, 2022. August 2, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220802220333/https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc146790/m1/1/?q=dilworth. live.
  6. Web site: The Dilworth Oil and Gas Field. May 24, 1917 . Dilworth New Era, May 24, 1917. August 1, 2022. August 2, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220802220334/https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1918674/m1/1/?q=dilworth. live.
  7. Web site: Dilworth, The City of the Flowing Gold—Best Advertised Town in Oklahoma. Dilworth New Era, November 8, 1917. August 1, 2022. August 2, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220802220334/https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1918753/m1/1/?q=dilworth. live.
  8. Web site: Oil Fields Short Line Railroad Company . Railroads of Oklahoma, June 6, 1870-April 1, 1978, p. 57 (accessed of Oklahoma Digital Prairie) . July 26, 2022 . May 16, 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210516003520/https://digitalprairie.ok.gov/digital/collection/okresources/id/70306/ . live .
  9. Web site: Dilworth New Era, Volume 1, No. 34, August 2, 1917. August 2, 1917 . Oklahoma Historical Society. August 1, 2022. August 2, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220802220334/https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1918713/. live.
  10. Web site: Dilworth New Era (Dilworth, Kay County, Okla.) 1916-19??. Library of Congress. August 1, 2022. August 2, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220802220414/https://www.loc.gov/item/sn97064824/. live.
  11. Web site: Rural Route No. 1. April 11, 1918 . Dilworth New Era, April 11, 1918. August 1, 2022. August 2, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220802220334/https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1918811/m1/1/?q=dilworth. live.
  12. Web site: Not a Vote Against It. October 25, 1917 . Dilworth New Era, October 25, 1917. August 1, 2022. August 2, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220802220335/https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1918747/m1/1/?q=dilworth. live.
  13. Web site: Ordinance No. 1, Ordinance No. 2. March 28, 1918 . Dilworth New Era, March 28, 1918. August 1, 2022. August 2, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220802220334/https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1918805/m1/1/?q=dilworth. live.
  14. Web site: Town Vanishing. March 14, 1929 . The Newkirk Herald Journal, March 14, 1929. August 2, 2022. August 2, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220802220335/https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1833138/m1/1/?q=dilworth. live.
  15. Web site: In the matter of the Application of the Oil Fields Short Line Railroad for permission to abandon and cease operating its line of railroad in Kay County, Oklahoma. 1924 . August 1, 2022. August 2, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220802220337/https://books.google.com/books?id=HsAnAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA462&lpg=PA462&dq=%22Oil+Fields+Short+Line+Railroad%22&source=bl&ots=9QTfFWQ64i&sig=ACfU3U2nHHu62znmTdBRcypBwjc4nVMDYw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi20dDIx6T5AhVMkWoFHc5eC0A4ChDoAXoECBMQAw#v=onepage&q=%22Oil%20Fields%20Short%20Line%20Railroad%22&f=false. live.
  16. Web site: Dilworth, circa 1925. OKGenWeb. August 1, 2022.

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