List of ghost towns in Oklahoma facts for kids

Autwine, in Kay County, Oklahoma

Picher, in Ottawa County, Oklahoma

This is an incomplete list of ghost towns in Oklahoma, United States of America, including abandoned sites.

Classification

Ghost towns can include sites in various states of disrepair and abandonment. Some sites no longer have any trace of civilization and have reverted to pasture land or empty fields. Other sites are unpopulated but still have standing buildings. Some sites may even have a small population, but there are far fewer citizens than in its grander historic past.

Barren site

• Sites no longer in existence
• Sites that have been destroyed
• Covered with water
• Reverted to pasture
• May have a few difficult to find foundations/footings at most

Neglected site

• Only rubble left
• Roofless building ruins
• Buildings or houses still standing, but majority are roofless

Abandoned site

Only traces remain of Grand, the county seat of Old Day County.

• Building or houses still standing
• Buildings and houses all abandoned
• No population, except caretaker
• Site no longer in existence except for one or two buildings, for example old church, grocery store

Many of these communities played important roles in the history, settlement, and growth of the state. Platted town sites organized by railroads, speculators, or the government during the opening of Oklahoma, many times, failed to prosper after initial settlement. Other communities grew up around rural schools, post offices, or general stores, and faded away when the attracting facilities closed. Several important Indian settlements developed around frontier forts, trading posts, Indian agencies, or where natural resources attracted permanent dwellings and dissolved when the Indian lands were opened. Oil boom towns also sometimes attracted thousands of people but disappeared when the boom ended. Abandoned sites in Oklahoma are almost always located on private, state, tribal, or federal land, and trespassing laws apply.

Semi abandoned site

• Building or houses still standing
• Buildings and houses largely abandoned
• few residents
• many abandoned buildings
• Small population

Historic community

• Building or houses still standing
• Still a busy community
• Smaller than its boom years
• Population has decreased dramatically, to one fifth or less.

Ghost towns

See also

• History of Oklahoma
• List of cities in Oklahoma
• List of towns in Oklahoma
• List of unincorporated communities in Oklahoma
• List of Census Designated Places in Oklahoma