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UER Forum > Archived US: South > Vanished: Lyman, Oklahoma (Viewed 911 times)
dwtaylor999 


Location: Unassigned Lands, Oklahoma
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Vanished: Lyman, Oklahoma
< on 5/15/2012 4:19 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
The town of Lyman, Oklahoma began shortly after the discovery of oil in the Burbank field in 1920. It was typical for the era and location, attracting the best and worst of humanity. Lyman was one of about 30 boom towns and camps that sprang up in the area. Like anyone working the oil boom in the Dakotas today can tell you, housing was difficult to come by. Many of these camps and boom towns were initially little more than tent cities and shacks, but as the oil field matured, more permanent housing was built. Some of the larger camps became almost like towns, with their own schools and post offices.




Some early entrepreneurs took advantage of the lack of homesteads, platted town sites, and sold lots. A.J. Lyman did just that, creating the town that bore his namesake. Lots sold quickly, homes and businesses were established, and a four room brick school was built. Some of these boom towns were quite modern, such as Shidler and Carter Nine, with water, sewer systems, electricity, etc. Others, such as Webb City, Cooper, and Lyman, remained quite primitive.




Like almost all the booms towns, it's fate was tied to the oil, which human nature assumed would last forever. As the Burbank field continued to expand, rail service was extended into the area to serve the multiple refineries in operation. The Osage railway was originally built from Foraker to Shidler, with construction from November 10th, 1921 to February 23, 1922. It was later extended to Lyman with construction beginning on July 2nd, 1923 and completing in early 1924. A photo of one of the locomotives that ran on the railway.




The rail was technically freight service only, though I've found several instances where passengers did in fact travel on the line, as rules tended to be a bit lax. The rail service was the early driver for Lyman’s success, and by March 22nd, 1924, the population growth resulted in the establishment of a post office.

I found an interesting description of life in Lyman from a man who spent time as a young boy at the Lyman during the boom.

When Dad accepted a pastorate at Lyman, Oklahoma, he packed all our furniture for shipment by rail. I especially remember that he individually wrapped each leg and rung of the dining room chairs to keep them from getting scratched. When we were ready to leave, I was packed into the back seat of our Model T Ford touring car and Mom held my little brother Merle in the front seat as Dad raised the isinglass curtain and stepped over the side to get in -- there was no door on the driver's side. Then we were off to Oklahoma -- to a little oil town that had only one church, the Church of the Nazarene.



After we got to Lyman, we took that same touring car to a nearby siding where our furniture was waiting for us in a railroad box car. We took off the isinglass curtains and folded the top down to make room for our carefully wrapped furniture. We moved into a little three room parsonage. This parsonage was built in typical oil field style -- 1 x 12 pine boards nailed inside 2 x 4 framing, with the 2 x 4s exposed on the outside -- no insulation, but heavy paper was tacked to the inside of the wall to help keep out the wind. The house had a curved roof similar to wooden railroad box cars of that era. The third room was a "shed" kitchen built onto the side of the house. It had a paper ceiling that was so low that once when Mom raised her hand, it went right through the ceiling.

Dad later built a bedroom onto the side of the house so that we didn't all have to sleep in the same room. There was no plumbing or electricity. At this parsonage we had to go about a quarter mile to get water from a spring on the other side of the railroad siding. This often was my task. Mom insisted that I should not dip the bucket into the pool because of bugs, but that I should get fresh water directly from the spring. This took a long time because there was only a small trickle, but then, I had lots of time and patience. Since water was a precious commodity, we had to use it sparingly -- that was until a fire from the wood cook stove caught the paper kitchen ceiling on fire.

Fortunately we had enough water to put out the fire, but then I had to go to the spring and get a fresh supply.




The local refinery later ran a natural gas line to the church and parsonage and provided free gas so that we could have gas lights and heat. They still had plenty of excess gas to burn at night at the top of their standpipe. The flame lighted the neighborhood for miles around.




Our home was surrounded by sandy soil which made it a natural place for making roads, tunnels and bridges for toy cars and trucks. There was an oil field "sucker rod" nearby coming from the power house. Its forward and back motion, which furnished pumping action to an oil well, also provided motion for any mechanical invention that I could connect to it. This kept me occupied as a five or six year old boy who liked to be inventive.

One of the downtown stores provided the church with space for a sidewalk blackboard that was used for church announcements. I enjoyed going with Dad every week to "help" him write the announcement of the next Sunday's services. My youngest brother, William Ray "Bill", was born in Lyman and I attended my first grade of school there. They didn't have a kindergarten.

The old "main street". Building and homes would have lined both sides of the road. Little remains but some old oil field sheds, converted to agricultural use, and some foundations.




























The railroad passed through this area, but not sure if this was part of the siding, the remains of an old gas station, or what. The row of trees in the second picture is the old railroad bed. The third is the foundation of a building near the tracks and is probably where they picked up their furniture.








Remnants of the oil field. Looks to have been a small refinery or pumping station.






Lyman, like many of the boom towns, could be a bit rough, prohibition was considered at best, a recommendation. I found descriptions of a dance hall that drew people for miles, but it wasn't for the faint of heart, as fights and worse were common. Lyman was also used occasionally as a stopover for those wishing to keep a low profile.

Dick Gregg, one of several outlaws who had robbed a train at Elgin, Kansas, just across the Oklahoma border, was one such who had holed up in Lyman. Unfortunately, his low profile fell apart on May 21st, 1924, when he became involved in a "disturbance" (probably at the dance hall) that attracted the attention of local law enforcement. When two officers tried to arrest him, he pulled a gun and ordered the two into the street, where he hailed a taxi, telling his two captives he was going to take them out to the country and kill them.

The taxi driver overhearing this, and figuring he would probably be added to the list of "those who will be killed", knocked the gun from Dick's hand, at which point the officers pounced, subduing him after a fierce struggle. The old Lyman jail is one of the only building still standing, and I'm sure Dick spent some time here. He was eventually shipped back to Elgin, where he stood trial and was sentenced to serve 10 to 20 for the Kansas train robbery, but unfortunately, this was not the last of Dick.










Dick was loaned to Oklahoma in 1926 as a witness in the Osage Murder Trials, but escaped from the Pawhuska jail in November of 1927. Over the next two years he held up at least five banks in Kansas and Oklahoma. When it was suggested in a newspaper report in the Tulsa Daily World that he had stolen some chickens in Kansas, he wrote indignantly to the paper, "I've never been so hard up that I had to steal chickens. I'm a bank robber and a darn good one. Please print the correction."


Typical of the boom towns, things began to come apart with the oil bust and the start of the Great Depression. The school was part of a mass closing in 1929, merging with nearby Webb City, also now a ghost town. The foundation and the storm "cave" are the only remains of the school. The Osage Railway, which had brought life to the town, was abandoned in 1953, and the town followed, with the post office closing in February of 1956. Some shots of the old school.














Outlaw Dick Gregg continued his life of crime until he finally met his end in a shootout with two Tulsa highway policemen in Sand Springs on August 28th, 1929. Dick shot one of the policemen through the heart as he approached the stolen Chevrolet Dick was driving, killing him instantly, and the other policemen also died from a gunshot to the chest, but not before putting a bullet through Dicks temple. The policemen who killed Dick was to start a new job in just two days. Both officers left wives and children behind.


I came across the obituary of little brother William mentioned above, who was born in Lyman in 1925 in the house with the paper ceiling. William, who passed away in June of 2006, had a masters in mathematics and Physics and a PHD in biophysics and nuclear medicine, and among other things, worked on structural dynamics for the Mercury space program.


Godspeed John Glenn.


[last edit 5/15/2012 4:23 AM by dwtaylor999 - edited 1 times]

Ruins, the fate of all cities.
TexasMike 


Location: DFW Metroplex
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Re: Vanished: Lyman, Oklahoma
<Reply # 1 on 5/15/2012 6:00 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
As always DW, excellent post. Wish I could tell stories like you do. Perhaps I'll try someday.

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highxfive 


Location: Portland, OR
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Re: Vanished: Lyman, Oklahoma
<Reply # 2 on 5/15/2012 7:18 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
I love it when you post these threads.

Delta Fire 


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Re: Vanished: Lyman, Oklahoma
<Reply # 3 on 5/15/2012 8:19 AM >
Posted on Forum: Infiltration Forums
 
Thanks for once again giving some old foundations life with your pictures and stories. Love that jail house. Can't wait for your next post. Keep em coming.

The probability of someone watching you is directly proportional to the stupidity of your actions.
Navi23 


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Re: Vanished: Lyman, Oklahoma
<Reply # 4 on 5/15/2012 12:27 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Awesome stuff as usual. Love that old 'storm cave' from the school! I was thinking that the kid sounded smart from your quotation - then it ends up his brother had a PHD in Biophysics & Nuclear Medicine. Smart cookies.

cdevon 


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Re: Vanished: Lyman, Oklahoma
<Reply # 5 on 5/15/2012 3:48 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Thank you for an excellent addition to my morning read.
[last edit 5/15/2012 3:49 PM by cdevon - edited 1 times]

When I say I'm 'clean and sober', it means I've showered and I'm headed to the liquor store.
tax_mouse 


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Re: Vanished: Lyman, Oklahoma
<Reply # 6 on 5/16/2012 6:17 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Love the history lesson. Great read.

itcallsmyname 






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Re: Vanished: Lyman, Oklahoma
<Reply # 7 on 5/21/2012 9:44 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
You did it again!

Kurt 


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Re: Vanished: Lyman, Oklahoma
<Reply # 8 on 5/24/2012 1:43 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
fantastic history!

"What is your favorite thing about Belchertown?"

"...the history, man"
bonnie&clyde 


Location: 510 & 415


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Re: Vanished: Lyman, Oklahoma
<Reply # 9 on 5/24/2012 3:17 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Excellent writeup & pix

ClYdE

The question is not when are we gonna stop, It's who's gonna stop us?

UER Forum > Archived US: South > Vanished: Lyman, Oklahoma (Viewed 911 times)



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