The Founders of Oakwood, Oklahoma by Mary J. Mills

What's In a Name? The Founders of Oakwood, Oklahoma By Mary J. Mills

Over the course of nearly two and a half centuries, the Mills migrated from England to New York to Ohio to Indiana to Illinois to Kansas, before arriving to Oklahoma. The Mills homesteaded first in Crescent City in 1889 during the Land Run. They then homesteaded in Okeene in 1893 when the Cherokee Strip opened. It was Milton Foster "Mitt" and Hattie Estella (Medaris) Mills who in 1898 began to establish the town of Oakwood on the Oklahoma map.

"He founded that town and my grandmother named that town." – R. Gary Mills, Sr.

Mitt would establish the post office, fight for Oakwood to be the county seat of Dewey County, bring the railway and incorporate Oakwood. It certainly did not come without its struggles.

The first struggle was naming the newly forming little town. A large upstanding family led by brothers, David Samuel, Elliot Daniel, Edgar Legrand, Horace Barnes Edsel/Edsall wanted to name the town after themselves. Even though Mitt and Hattie wanted to name the little town Mills or Millsville, they knew there was no way to overcome the Edsel family's desires. The family lore is they had a contest to name the town, and Hattie won the contest naming the little town Oakwood. Mr. Robert D. "Bob" Colemen recalls the town being unofficially named Edsel, but when Hattie was doing the paperwork for the post office, she took it upon herself to officially name it Oakwood. David S. Edsel and the Edsel family were displeased with the outcome, and founded a little town a few miles southwest of Oakwood and named it Edsel.

On August 26, 1903, the government appointed Robert N. Hopkins as the official U. S. Postmaster for Edsel, OK. Less than four months later, on December 19, 1903 an editorial in The Guthrie Daily Leader, the Bureau of The Leader, D. C., "The [postoffice] at [Esdel], Dewey [county], Okla., has been discontinued. All mail hereafter should be addressed to Oakwood."

With the little town's name settled, Mitt and the remaining families began to work on bringing legitimacy and prosperity to Oakwood. Mitt was a pharmacist before coming to Oakwood. He built a drug store and general store in Okeene, which is still standing strong on South Main Street. He would build another general store on Oakwood's Main Street where local

R. Gary Mills, Sr., grandson
Milton F. "Mitt" Mills' Store & Post Office 1968 Oakwood, OK

families could buy goods and receive their mail. Later he built a bigger and better store and post office a quarter of a mile west on Main Street. On January 15, 1899, the government appointed Mitt as the first official U. S. Postmaster for Oakwood. Mitt would haul mail from Eagle City to Oakwood twice a week.

"He would go over there twice a week in a horse and buggy to pick up the mail from Eagle City. He finally got a spur of the railroad to come up through Oakwood." – R. Gary Mills, Sr.

Not only was Mitt appealing to the railway, he was also appealing to the government to choose Oakwood as the county seat for Dewey County. In June, 1899, the Supreme Court case No. 756, Henry Betts vs Milton Mills was affirmed sending the case back to the District Court for a ruling. In September, 1900, a date was set for the court to hear arguments on Taloga or Oakwood being the county seat. Taloga was well established and growing rapidly, on September 23, 1901, the Supreme Court set terms for the Fifth District Court with Judge John L. McAtee presiding over the case of Taloga vs Oakwood, with Taloga being chosen for the county seat. It was a valiant effort, but Mitt would need to refocus on the railway coming through Dewey County.

On June 29, 1900, President and founder Arthur Edward Stillwell of the Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Railway (KCMO) held a special meeting with directors on building the Kansas City, Pittsburg, and Gulf railways. This would bring the railway to Oklahoma. Many little towns entertained the KCMO railway in hopes of bringing the railway to their towns, which meant more opportunities and prosperity. The new construction would bring disappointments for most. An editorial in The Guthrie Daily Leader, "Judge Dill says most emphatically the Orient Railway company will not put in a depot at the town of Dill (now Lone Wolf [postoffice]) nor will it help to build up that town but will make a bend and miss the town of Dill a couple of miles and build its own towns, one on each side of the Rock Island railroad."

The railways also required land to lay tracks and to construct despots. There were many opportunists who bought land in the hopes the railway would come through, and in return, they would resell the land to the railways for a profit. There were four such men in Oakwood: Milton F. "Mitt" Mills, Edgar L. Edsall, Elliot D. Edsall, and Horace B. Edsall. The gentleman bought land in Sections 21 and 22, but it would only payout for two.

On the June, 1880 U. S. Federal Census, David and Edgar were laborers on the railways in Wilmington, Kansas. Edgar would have been aware of the opportunities in purchasing the right land. The Edsall brothers bought their land on April 1, 1903 and Mitt bought his on June 7, 1905.

The KCMO railway would not miss Oakwood, but come alongside the little town. On August 28, 1905, the KCMO railway would soon be finished with the railway bridge over the South Canadian River seven miles south of Oakwood. Then the construction for laying down tracks to Oakwood would begin. By November, the construction was finished for Oakwood, and the town would welcome their train depot.* In Ardmore's The Daily Ardmoreite on June 16, 1906, the first train of the 40 mile Orient extension from Wichita, KS to Oakwood, OK was celebrated.

Mitt and Horace would have the payout, with Mitt having the biggest. The KCMO railway constructed Oakwood's depot on Mitt's land. The railway came through Mitt's land located south east quarter of section twenty-one, and through Horace's north half of the south east quarter of section twenty-one.

"My granddad got the post office in there, got the town named and incorporated, and he got the railroad to come through there." – R. Gary Mills, Sr.

Oakwood would be a busy little town in 1906 with starting the process of incorporating. The Farmers Union Cooperative Association (FUCA) chose Oakwood for its prime place of business with $50,000 in capital stock. The directors for FUCA were Oakwood residences: George W. Hardin, T. S. Ronine and W. L. Murdy. Nathaniel B. Payne's application for notary was approved by the Secretary of the Territory, Charles H. Filson. The Oakwood Bank started with $10,000 capital stock and the directors were: George Sowers and C. Chaney of Taloga and E. L. Porter, David S. Edsall and Edgar L. Edsall of Oakwood. In 1908, Oakwood Mutual Telephone Company would be started with $7,000 capital stock and the directors were Oakwood's residences: F. M. Daly, Charles Hardin and Nathaniel B. Payne. The proud folks of Oakwood had brought legitimacy and prosperity to their growing town. On September 21, 1909, Oakwood would be incorporated.

The railway that brought the opportunities and prosperity would also take Oakwood's young men off to war.

It was World War I, "My dad was living in Oakwood when he got drafted and he would have been about 22, I guess. They left on a train from Oakwood to San Antonio to the army base down there." – R. Gary Mills, Sr.

On June 5, 1917, William A. "Willie" Mills was drafted into the Army at Oakwood as a private in Company A, 345th Machine Gun Battalion, 90th Division. Willie was gassed twice in WWI. First at the Battle of Saint-Mihiel September 12-15, 1918. He was given treatment at a first aid station for about one week, then sent back to service. Then in the Battle of the Argonne Forest, 26 September – 11 November, 1918, Willie was gassed on November 10. He was sent to Base Hospital 61 near Baume, France for treatment and kept there until January 23, 1919, and from there transferred as a casualty. He was honorably discharged on March 22, 1919, in Lawton, OK. His father, Mitt died on February 26, 1919 in Oakwood.

Hattie E. Mills relocated the family to Stillwater, Oklahoma. Willie attended Oklahoma A & M (Oklahoma State University) and graduated in 1926 with a degree in Dairy Science. Hattie died on May 10, 1948 in Oklahoma City from pneumonia after a fall that had fractured her hip in her home in Stillwater. Hattie would be returned to Mitt and Oakwood. She and Mitt are buried in the beautiful little Evergreen Cemetery.

Two of the founders of Oakwood, Milton F. and Hattie E. (Medaris) Mills establish the town through victories and losses. Hattie, in seeing the beauty and the strength of the oak trees in the area and naming the town appropriately. Mitt, in fighting for the little town's livelihood by establishing the post office, bringing in the railway, and incorporating Oakwood. Most importantly, many families stood together through trials and tribulations to establish this little community; So they will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified, Isaiah 61:3.

Interviews with grandson, R. Gary Mills, Sr.
"[Supeme] Court", The Guthrie Daily Leader, June 16, 1899
"Orient Railway To Through Oklahoma", The Guthrie Daily Leader, June 30, 1900
"Terms of Court", The Guthrie Daily Leader, September 6, 1901
"Dill Pulls For The Orient", The Guthrie Daily Leader, December 30, 1901
"[Postoffices] Discontinued", The Guthrie Daily Leader, December 17, 1903
"Orient Railroad Running Trains Into Its Boom Town", The Guthrie Daily Leader, August 28, 1905
"First Train on Orient Extension", The Guthrie Daily Leader, June 17, 1906
"The Oakwood Bank", The Guthrie Daily Leader, November 10, 1906
"Notary Applications", The Guthrie Daily Leader, February 3, 1906
"[Chartere] Issued", The Guthrie Daily Leader, July 14, 1906
"Oakwood Telephone Company", The Guthrie Daily Leader, November 3, 1908
Engineering – Contracting, Volume XXVII, The Myron C. Clark Publishing Co., January – June, 1907
Shirk, George H., Oklahoma Places Names, University of Oklahoma Press Norman, 1865
Bobbie Coleman, "Main Street Oakwood [typescript, 1990]," in "Oakwood," Vertical File, Research Division, Oklahoma Historical Society, Oklahoma City.
Ancestry.com. U.S., Appointments of U. S. Postmasters
U. S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, General Land Office Records
Year: 1880; Census Place: Wilmington, Wabaunsee, Kansas; Roll: 399; Family History Film: 1254399; Page: 422C; Enumeration District: 128; Image: 0104

*In 2000, The Oklahoma Railway Museum in Oklahoma City purchased and restored Oakwood's train depot. 

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