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County History
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Harper County was once a part of the Cherokee Outlet, set aside for that nation in treaties of 1828 and 1835. The Outlet was opened for non-Indian settlement in September 1893. Created at 1907 statehood and named for a local pioneer resident, teacher, and clerk of the Oklahoma Constitutional Convention of 1906, Oscar Greene Harper from Missouri, Harper County encompasses a total land and water area of 1,040.9 square miles. Two rivers flow through the landscape of rocky, red canyons in the east and high plains and rolling hills in the west: the Cimarron and the Beaver (North Canadian). Dolby Springs Park, replete with a golf course and an artesian well, rests ten miles northwest of Buffalo, the county seat. The county produces wheat, cattle, petroleum, natural gas, and gypsum. Early-day residents supplemented their farming and ranching livelihoods by selling dry bison bones. Sinclair Prairie Oil Company drilled the county's discovery well in 1930. Presently, education, oil and gas, and government services employ the majority of workers.
Located in northwestern Harper County along the Beaver River, the Cooper Bison Kill Site represents one of the most significant archaeological sites in North America, providing invaluable information about Folsom culture and ancient bison. Also, the oldest painted object discovered in North America, a more than ten-thousand-year-old bison skull painted with a zigzag pattern, was uncovered at there. Before statehood, Indians, mainly Cheyenne and Arapaho, and bison herds freely roamed the terrain. Spanish explorer Francisco Vásquez de Coronado may have trekked through the area in 1541 hoping to find gold. As pioneers crossed the region, several trails developed. The Fort Dodge to Camp Supply Military Trail, first followed in 1868 by the U.S. Army's Seventh Cavalry, was used to move men and supplies to establish Camp Supply. The Western Trail (also known as the Dodge City Trail) was first used between South Texas and Fort Robinson, Nebraska, in 1874.
In 1908 the Cimarron Valley Turnpike Company built a bridge over the Cimarron River to facilitate travel between Englewood, Kansas, and Oklahoma. Conceived in 1923, the White River Trail intended to join Rogers, Arkansas, with Raton, New Mexico, and would have passed through Harper County; however, because of lack of funding, this enterprise never became realized. Eventually, U.S. Highway 64 took the place of the White River Trail. Other major thoroughfares in Harper County include U.S. Highways 183, 270/412, and 283 and State Highways 3, 34, 46, and 149. U.S. 183 and U.S. 64 intersect in Buffalo near the center of the county.
Historically, Harper Countians made their own successes. For example, in the early days, residents built a considerable trade in salt gathered from the Great Salt Plain. In 1895 the Ditch Valley Cooperative dug irrigation ditches to use river water to irrigate its members' fields. In 1912 the Wichita Falls and Northwestern Railway, a Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway (MK&T) subsidiary, was constructed through Dunlap, May, Laverne, and Rosston. In addition, county citizens built their own line, the Buffalo and Northwestern Railroad (B&NW), to connect Buffalo with Waynoka in 1919-20. The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway acquired the B&NW in 1920, and the MK&T line was abandoned in 1970.
Buffalo presently serves as the headquarters of the Oklahoma State Highway Department's Sixth Division and supports the Harper County Community Hospital. Started in 1937 by Dr. Earl F. Camp, it is the county's only hospital. The county enjoyed telephone service beginning in 1907. Harper County's first newspaper, the Brule Post, began publishing in June 1905 with William Forester as editor. Currently, Buffalo (the Harper County Journal) and Laverne (the Leader Tribune) each publish a newspaper and have the county's only public schools. Other incorporated towns are May and Rosston while unincorporated communities include Dunlap, Willard, and Selman. Towns no longer in existence include Doby Springs, Paruna, Flat, Avis, Readout, Cross, Alto, Cupid, and Stockholm. A county seat "fight" was waged between Doby Springs and Buffalo, with Buffalo winning the title by 111 votes in 1908.
Harper County's brush with fame came in September 1934 when Charles A. Lindbergh, his wife Anne Morrow Lindbergh, and their plane made an emergency landing on the Homer Aitken farm situated between the communities of Fern and Selman. News of the famous couple traveled fast and drew many visitors until a replacement part for the plane arrived, and the Lindberghs took to the skies again. Notable Harper Countians include 1936 Olympic heavyweight wrestler Roy Dunn, 1967 Miss America Jayne Jayroe, and songwriter Jimmy Webb ("MacArthur Park," "Up, Up, and Away," and "By the Time I Get to Phoenix").
The U.S. Censuses have recorded a dwindling population for Harper County over several decades. The 1910 peak was followed by a decline to 7,761 at the beginning of the 1930s Great Depression. By 1950 the number of inhabitants stood at 5,977, by 1980 at 4,715, and in 1990, 4,063. The 2000 population of 3,562 comprised approximately four persons per square mile, of whom approximately 95 percent were white and 5 percent were Hispanic. The leading employers were health care, the retail trade, and transportation providers, and cattle feed yards also provided income. Since 1940 an annual Old Settlers Picnic has been held to commemorate the county's heritage.
[Source: Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture]
The town of Buffalo serves as the county seat of Harper County in the northwestern corner of Oklahoma at the Panhandle's eastern entrance. Buffalo is located on U.S. Highway 183/64, twelve miles south of the Kansas state line, thirty miles northeast of the Texas state line, and 174 miles northwest of Oklahoma City. Town boundaries were staked out in the valley of Buffalo Creek, from which the community derived its name, and a post office was established on June 6, 1907.
During the years of the cattle drives, thousands of head of cattle were herded along the Western Trail, which ran west of present Buffalo. In addition, countless soldiers moved through the area along a military trail that extended north from Fort Supply to Fort Dodge, Kansas.
Buffalo and the surrounding region has had a lengthy ownership record of historical significance, being part of the 1803 Louisiana Purchase. Its boundaries were included in the Cherokee Outlet from 1835 until 1890 when it received the designation of Oklahoma Territory. On September 16, 1893, thousands of settlers participated in the famous Cherokee Outlet Opening. Following an election held on June 9, 1908, Buffalo won the title of county seat for the 1,041square miles of Harper County, Oklahoma. The town was incorporated on July 8 of that year.
When downtown businesses were in the process of being constructed, Buffalo's founders issued instructions for all buildings to be built of stone, thereby lessening the dangers of ever-threatening prairie fires. As a result, many of those structures survived the test of time and remain as testimony of pioneer prudence. Among the town's six properties listed in the National Register of Historic Places are the Harper County Courthouse (NR 84003041), completed in 1927, and the IOOF Building of Buffalo (NR 83002087). The Buffalo and Northwestern Railroad (purchased by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway in July 1920) reached town in May 1920.
Buffalo remains the primary service center for a wide area of ranches and farms. Harper County Community hospital has provided residents with medical treatment. The Harper County Journal, consolidated from the Buffalo Republican and the Harper County Democrat, has been published weekly since 1924 (other early newspapers included the Buffalo News, the Buffalo Bugle, the Buffalo Republican and the Post). Air access is available at a municipal airport that has a four-thousand-foot runway, and the community's governmental body and chamber of commerce meet monthly. The Buffalo Museum displays local artifacts, and the Page Soddy (NR 83002089), a sod house typical of the Great Plains, is located southeast of town.
Doby Springs, a lake and park eight miles west and two miles north of Buffalo, is city-owned and provides a water supply. Tourists are attracted to its small fishing lake, stocked with game fish, nature trails, camping, and a golf course. The site, named for an early-day rancher, served as a watering place for herds of bison prior to their near demise.
In 1910 Buffalo's population was 282. That figure increased to 990 in 1930 and peaked in 1960 at 1,618. Its number of residents then declined from 1,579 in 1970 to 1,512 in 1990. The 2000 census showed a count of 1,200.
Laverne is situated at the intersection of U.S. Highway 283 and State Highway 149, twenty-three miles southwest of Buffalo and 179 miles northwest of Oklahoma City. A post office was established northwest of present Laverne in 1898, when the area was within Woodward County, Oklahoma Territory. Designated Laverne, the facility operated until 1908, when mail was rerouted to now-defunct Speermore.John Mollman homesteaded near Laverne post office in 1903. He sold part of his land to a townsite promoter in autumn 1911. The acreage was platted, and lots were purchased. Stores soon opened, and the Wichita Falls and Northwestern Railway (WF&NW) reached the settlement in spring 1912. (The WF&NW was a Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway subsidiary. The Laverne line was abandoned in 1972.) The old Laverne post office was reactivated and moved to the village in May 1912, giving the community its name.
Laverne had approximately forty-four businesses by June 1912, including the Laverne State Bank. The Fox Hotel (NR 78002236) and the Clover Hotel (NR 84003034), both built in 1912, are among Laverne's five properties listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Broomcorn, wheat, and cattle were economic staples through the 1920s. The Laverne Leader, the Laverne Tribune, and the socialist Beacon Light were early newspapers. The town had 476 citizens in 1920. That number increased to 903 in 1930 and dropped to 816 in 1940.
Nicknamed the "Oil Capital of Northwest Oklahoma" during a 1950s oil boom, Laverne prospered as petroleum and pipeline companies opened local facilities. The Laverne Chamber of Commerce originated in 1956, and housing increased as the population grew from 1,269 in 1950 to 1,937 in 1960. That figure subsequently fell to 1,337 in 1970, rose to 1,563 in 1980, and declined to 1,269 in 1990.
Laverne had 1,097 inhabitants and approximately seventy-one businesses in 2000. The economy remained agriculturally based, with wheat, hay, and cattle as principal commodities. The community presently has nine churches, a public library, a municipal airport, and the weekly Laverne Leader Tribune newspaper; the nearest hospital is in Buffalo. Children from Harper, Ellis, and Beaver counties attend the Laverne public schools. Jane Jayroe, Miss America 1967, and musician James "Jimmy" Webb are former residents.
May is situated at the intersection of State Highway 46 and U.S. Highways 270/412/State Highway 3, twenty-one miles southwest of Buffalo, the Harper County seat, and 165 miles northwest of Oklahoma City. John H. Porterfield of Illinois established a store on the present townsite following the Cherokee Outlet Opening of 1893. Then located in Woodward County, Oklahoma Territory, the settlement was named in honor of Porterfield's daughter, Jessie May. (Other sources claim it was named for May Innis, daughter of local landowner Joseph A. Innis.) The May post office opened in July 1896 with Porterfield as postmaster. The town was platted in July 1902 and incorporated on November 3, 1913.May became a wheat shipping point after construction of the Wichita Falls and Northwestern Railway, a Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway (MK&T) subsidiary, was completed through town in spring 1912. Cattle and wheat remained economically important to the community into the twenty-first century. Positioned just south of the Beaver River (North Canadian River) and east of Otter Creek, the town flooded often.
Businesses at the time of incorporation included the May State Bank, the Cottage and Keystone hotels, the C. B. Cozart Grain Company, a grain elevator, a feed barn, and the May Restaurant and City Meat Market. In 1913 a two-story, brick school building was built. Early newspapers were the May Monitor, the May Bugle, and the May Record. The community had a population of approximately 20 in 1907. That figure grew to a high of 324 in 1920 and then fell from 258 in 1930 to 239 in 1940.
May declined during World War II as residents joined the military or sought employment elsewhere. The exodus continued into the postwar years, causing businesses to close. The town's population dropped from 143 in 1950 to 91 in 1970. The high school closed in 1957, and in 1970 the May School District was divided between Laverne, Fort Supply, and Gage. The local MK&T line was abandoned in 1972. May had forty-two inhabitants in 1990 and thirty-three in 2000. Five commercial enterprises operated there in 2002, including two construction firms and two businesses related to the petroleum and natural gas industries.
Rosston is situated along U.S. Highway 64, eighteen miles west of Buffalo and 189 miles northwest of Oklahoma City. The town was founded by Rapheal H. Ross, a West Virginian. He homesteaded nearby in 1901. After arriving in what was then Woodward County, Oklahoma Territory, Ross opened a lumberyard in now-defunct Readout. In 1907 he moved a few miles to the southwest and started a general store. By 1910 he owned approximately twenty-three hundred acres of land.The Wichita Falls and Northwestern Railway, a Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway subsidiary, was constructed across Harper County in 1912. A depot was built on Ross's property about one-half mile west of his store. There a townsite was established in May 1912. The settlement was named Rosston for Ross and his business partner and relative, A. Rufus Ralston. Its post office opened in January 1914.
Early Rosston was a ranching and farming community whose principal commodities were cattle, hogs, and wheat. The Cox-Henry and the J. M. Higgins grain companies maintained grain elevators there, and the Rosston Milling Company processed flour. Other businesses included the Rosston Livery and Feed Barn, where horses and mules were sold, and the Spencer and McCord hotels. The First National Bank was located inside a two-story, brick structure built in 1912. The Rosston News and the General newspapers began publication in 1917 and 1923, respectively.
Rosston had 181 citizens in 1920. The town declined during the Great Depression, and its population fell from 185 in 1930 to 143 in 1940. Most business buildings were dismantled prior to 1960. At that time Rosston's population totaled 58. The Rosston and Laverne schools consolidated in 1970, and by 1973 only the post office, a garage, and a service station remained open. Passenger train service to Rosston stopped in 1940, and the local track was abandoned in 1972.
Rosston had 56 residents in 1970, 66 in 1980, 54 in 1990, and 66 in 2000. Only two businesses, a child day-care service and a petroleum-industry facility, operated at the end of the twentieth century. Agriculture remained key to the local economy.
