The Muskogee Roads was the colloquial name for a system of railroads under common management operationally headquartered in

Muskogee, Oklahoma Muskogee () is the thirteenth-largest city in Oklahoma and the county seat of Muskogee County. Home to Bacone College, it lies approximately southeast of Tulsa. The population of the city was 36,878 as of the 2020 census, a 6.0 percent decrease ...

and controlled by the

Muskogee Company The Muskogee Company, although a Philadelphia company, was founded in Delaware on February 27, 1923. The company officers were brothers C. Jared Ingersoll, industrialist, as president, and John H. W. Ingersoll, attorney and industrialist, as vice p ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. The Muskogee Roads were the only

Class I railroad In the United States, railroad carriers are designated as Class I, II, or III, according to annual revenue criteria originally set by the Surface Transportation Board in 1992. With annual adjustments for inflation, the 2019 thresholds were US$ ...

s to be headquartered in

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

and had a major impact on the development and livelihood of the region. The Muskogee Roads were the

Midland Valley Railroad The Midland Valley Railroad (MV) was a railroad company incorporated on June 4, 1903 for the purpose of building a line from Hope, Arkansas, through Muskogee and Tulsa, Oklahoma to Wichita, Kansas. It was backed by C. Jared Ingersoll, a Philadelph ...

, the

Kansas, Oklahoma and Gulf Railway The Kansas, Oklahoma and Gulf Railway (KO&G) was formed on July 31, 1919 from the assets of the bankrupt Missouri, Oklahoma and Gulf Railway. The KO&G largely consisted of a single line from Baxter Springs, Kansas, to Denison, Texas, prior to ...

, and the

Oklahoma City-Ada-Atoka Railway Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New M ...

. The Muskogee Company also controlled the

Osage Railway The Osage Railway was incorporated in 1921 to accommodate traffic from the oil fields located in the Osage Nation. The first part of its mainline was constructed in 1922 from a connection with the Midland Valley Railroad at Foraker, Oklahoma, to ...

. The prehistory of the Muskogee Company might be said to begin with the building of the Choctaw, Oklahoma & Gulf Railroad in the 1890s by a group of Philadelphia businessmen headed by Charles Edward Ingersoll; that line ran from

McAlester, Oklahoma McAlester is the county seat of Pittsburg County, Oklahoma, Pittsburg County, Oklahoma. The population was 18,363 at the time of the 2010 census, a 3.4 percent increase from 17,783 at the 2000 census,Shuller, Thurman"McAlester" profile ''Encyclop ...

Hartford, Arkansas Hartford is a city in Sebastian County, Arkansas, United States. It is part of the Fort Smith, Arkansas-Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 642 at the 2010 census. Clergyman James T. Draper, Jr., president of the Southern ...

. The Ingersoll group sold the line in 1902, but then decided to build a new line from

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 397,532. The Wichita metro area had ...

Ft. Smith, Arkansas Fort Smith is the third-largest city in Arkansas and one of the two county seats of Sebastian County, Arkansas, Sebastian County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 Census, the population was 89,142. It is the principal city of the Fort Smi ...

. The resulting Midland Valley Railroad Company was chartered in 1903, and the whole line was finished by 1906. The Muskogee Company was formed in 1923 to manage the affairs of the railroad. An independently-owned but associated road, the Osage Railway, was built during the early 1920s. It was to accommodate traffic from the oil fields located in the Osage Nation. The Kansas, Oklahoma & Gulf Railroad was a nearby line that had twice gone into receivership. That railway ran from

Denison, Texas Denison is a city in Grayson County, Texas, Grayson County, Texas, United States. It is south of the Texas–Oklahoma border. The population was 22,682 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. Denison is part of the Texoma region and is one ...

Baxter Springs, Kansas Baxter Springs is a city in Cherokee County, Kansas, United States, and located along Spring River. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 3,888. History For thousands of years, indigenous peoples had lived along the waterwa ...

. Ownership passed into the hands of the Muskogee Company in 1926, and the line was soon generating a profit. In 1929, the Muskogee Company acquired the Oklahoma City-Ada-Atoka Railroad Company and its subsidiary, the Oklahoma City-Shawnee Interurban Company. At this point the Ingersoll interests owned and operated four railways with 756 miles of track. The Osage Railroad was abandoned in 1953. In 1963, the

Texas & Pacific The Texas and Pacific Railway Company (known as the T&P) was created by federal charter in 1871 with the purpose of building a southern transcontinental railroad between Marshall, Texas, and San Diego, California. History Under the influence of ...

, which was a subsidiary of the

Missouri Pacific Railroad The Missouri Pacific Railroad , commonly abbreviated as MoPac, was one of the first railroads in the United States west of the Mississippi River. MoPac was a Class I railroad growing from dozens of predecessors and mergers. In 1967, the railroad ...

, acquired the other three lines. The Oklahoma City-Ada-Atoka was sold to the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe that same year, while the others were consolidated into the Texas & Pacific.

References

{{reflist Defunct Arkansas railroads Defunct Kansas railroads Defunct Oklahoma railroads

Roads A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation. There are many types of ...

Predecessors of the Missouri Pacific Railroad Railway companies established in 1923 Railway companies disestablished in 1964