Owl was an unincorporated community in the Indian Territory and later Coal County, Oklahoma. At the time of its founding, Owl was located in Atoka County, a part of the Pushmataha District, or province, of the Choctaw Nation.
Owl was established as a station stop on the MK&T Railroad, between Coalgate and Tupelo. After statehood, Owl was located at or near the geographic center of Coal County, a fact it sought to exploit for its benefit.[1] According to a local newspaper, the town had two buildings in February 1904, then grew to 75 buildings and a population of 500 by January 1905.[2]
During the latter days of the Indian Territory, as Oklahoma's statehood became a certainty, Owl promoted itself to become the county seat of the newly established Coal County. Owl residents published a new newspaper, the Coal County Register, to serve as a mouthpiece for the effort. Tupelo, Lehigh, Olney, Centrahoma, Coalgate and Phillips all vied with Owl to be county seat of the new county.[3]
Owl's effort was an uphill climb. Each town wishing to become county seat was required to gather 300 signatures in order to make it onto the ballot.[4] It could not, and the final ballot did not include it as a choice. Lehigh, the provisional county seat, lost the privilege to Coalgate. At the time of the election, Lehigh was thought to have a population of 2,188 and Coalgate was thought to have as many as 2,921.[5]
References
edit- ^ Coal County Register of Owl, I.T., April 5, 1907, page 8.
- ^ "The Town of Owl". The Owl Tribune. Vol. 1, no. 1. January 13, 1905. p. 1.
- ^ Lehigh Leader, Thursday, January 3, 1907, page 4, Thursday, March 28, 1907, page 12, ad Thursday, June 6, 1907, page 6.
- ^ Tupelo Times, April 9, 1908, page 2.
- ^ Lehigh Leader, Thursday, May 21, 1908, page 1.