The town that moved and forgot to tell anyone. Center Oklahoma was one of the most interesting places to visit because the county records are all outdated and the history books are inaccurate. At least IMHO.
The accepted history of Center has that it did not move and slowly died where it stands today. The mystery for me started when I noticed that the town plot map did not seem to match the aerial mapping the County Recorder’s Office provided. The cemetery was, according to the plot mapping, exactly where it was supposed to be. The town wasn’t. It was almost 2 miles away from where the plot mapping said it was supposed to be. This is where the confusion begins. Historical accountings of the town included images from the original location of the town and images from where it currently stands and gave the impression that they were all from the same location.
Intrigued, I put on my detective jacket, grabbed my magnifying glass and started trying to unravel the mystery.
I started talking to the remaining residents in the town and everyone said the town had always been where it was. Not to be deterred from unraveling the mystery I went back to the cemetery and started backtracking the roads I could identify.
After a few twists and turns I found myself on what I believed to be one of the side streets of the town. Finding three homes that looked old enough to be several generations old I started knocking on doors to ask if they knew anything about the differences in the maps. I found someone home at the second house and the next couple hours unraveled the mystery. As soon as I asked my question they smiled and just pointed to the open field across from their home. The same family, from what I gathered, owned the three homes and had been working on a book about the history of Center for a few years. I look forward to reading that book when it is published. The mystery unravels as you walk the field across from their homes and see some of the original foundations from where Center stood. Center was established in the mid 1800’s. A white settlement in the Chickasaw Nation. The Chickasaw Nation was divided into several counties with Center being in the Pontotoc county. When Center was established the Nation had not yet been approved for legal white ownership which meant most of the residents in Center either rented or leased their property.
In 1891 the cemetery was established and Center began the process of being recognized as an Oklahoma town with the filing of the first plot map around 1901. At it’s height the town had a population of around 500 and was considered a major town in the area and was one of the “Saturday” towns. A “Saturday” town was a township where people from all over a county came on Saturday nights to have fun dancing and socialize. There were a couple dozen businesses, a Court house, two hotels centered around the two primary wells.
Like many towns of that era the railroads often dictated where towns grew and where towns died. Center was do different. When the railroads mapped out where they proposed to build tracks it was suggested that Center move approximately two miles so that the town would be a major stop. The residents of Center voted to not move.
As the building of the railroads progressed the residents of Center appeared to have had another vote and decided to move the town approximately two miles. The new location was set up with the exact same street names, building locations and was essentially a copy of the original township. Their only problem was that they never recorded that the town had been moved so the plot mapping was never updated.
What happened? As it turned out the railroads had problems with the original plans and had to reroute the tracks, missing Center completely. As time passed the businesses shut down and people moved to locations closer to the new hubs that popped up around where the tracks were. Once an important trade center for the area, Center quickly became deserted.
Still kicking and trying to stay alive Center saw a recovery start when, as one long time resident put it, the “hippie” generation moved in and took over.
Today you will see a mixture of abandoned dreams and dogged determination to survive. There are some beautiful homes in both the original location of the town and it’s current location.
At first glance you would think it was a cute little place... until you start looking behind things and find the abandoned dreams of yesterday. The resident that said the “hippies” moved in said that when they were bored with the town they just picked up and left, leaving everything behind for someone else to clean up.
Some places were cleaned up and others still remain in ruin. It was almost as if they had just woke up one day, decided to leave and just walked away. In some of the places the vandals destroyed what they didn’t want and took what they wanted.
Boarded up and falling apart, these once quaint little places await their final destruction and will hopefully, once again, be someone dream of a better tomorrow.
One of the most intriguing aspects of Center that caught my attention as soon as I turned off the main highway was the junkyard. When most people think of a junkyard they visualize piles of random pieces of junk scattered around a fenced in enclosure with a mean dog and cranky old dude with a shotgun under the counter.
Not in Center. Over the years I have visited a lot of junkyards. The one in Center is THE first one I have ever seen with mowed grounds and everything separated and lined up. Row after row of tractors, busses, golf carts, jeeps and of course the section dedicated to VW Bugs.
The owner of the junkyard, thanks to CA yuppies and excessive need to out do each other, made a killing selling broken down tractors. Paying top dollar (1000% over market value), everyone in CA seemed to want an old tractor in their yard. They visited, picked out which one they wanted and paid to have it shipped back to CA.
Not much demand today, but he says he still gets the occasional request for a tractor. In the mean time, he keeps it mowed and in perfect order.
After a long day of research and talking to local residents I think Center can still be classified as a Ghost Town of Oklahoma. The original town foundation is still there and it’s story (still to be told by one family), is one that will capture the interest of many.
After I left to head home I decided to return to the County Recorders office. I met with the same gentleman and asked if I could see the maps again. He was kind enough to bring them out again and laid them out for me to see. With a small smile I looked at him and asked... “Do you see the problem with your maps?” He looked at the maps and at me and said no. I pointed to the plot mapping from 1901 and said see where the town is and relation to the cemetery? The cemetery is still there. The town isn’t, it is 2 miles away now. He looked at the plot mapping and the aerial map and started laughing. You are right. They never recorded that they had moved. “I guess they forgot to tell anyone.”