Pooleville is a community located in Carter County, Oklahoma, United States. It is west of the

Arbuckles The Arbuckle Mountains are an ancient mountain range in south-central Oklahoma in the United States. They lie in Murray County, Oklahoma, Murray, Carter County, Oklahoma, Carter, Pontotoc County, Oklahoma, Pontotoc, and Johnston County, Oklahoma, J ...

. During the territorial days, the community was originally known as Elk.Shirk, George H. ''Oklahoma Place Names'', Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1965, p.71. At the time of its founding, the community was located in

Pickens County, Chickasaw Nation Pickens County was a political subdivision of the Chickasaw Nation in the Indian Territory from 1855, prior to Oklahoma being admitted as a state in 1907. The county was one of four that comprised the Chickasaw Nation. Following statehood, its terr ...

.Charles Goins. ''Historical Atlas of Oklahoma'' (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2006), p. 105. The Elk post office opened January 15, 1890, and the name was changed to Pooleville on July 20, 1907. The current ZIP Code is 73401 assigned to Ardmore. The community was named for an Ardmore banker, E.S. Poole.Shirk, George H. ''Oklahoma Place Names'', Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1965, p.170. In 1907, when Oklahoma became a state, it was decided that Elk should be renamed because the mail kept getting mixed up with Elk City, and so a town meeting was called. Three possible names were chosen and sent to Washington, DC: JJ Eaves, a prominent rancher, LO Majors, the owner of the General Store, and Elzy R Poole, a pioneer rancher. After a time, Washington DC notified them that Elk, Oklahoma would now be called Pooleville. E.S. Poole was actually Edward Poole and was the son of Elzy R. Poole, in 1907 he was only 19 years old and so it is doubtful that he would be a prominent banker at that time. On June 8, 1894, a sheriff's posse from Anadarko caught and killed William M. Dalton (a brother of the Daltons and member of the

Doolin-Dalton Gang The Wild Bunch, also known as the Doolin–Dalton Gang, or the Oklahombres, were a gang of American outlaws based in the Indian Territory in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They were active in Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma Terr ...

) near here.

References

Unincorporated communities in Carter County, Oklahoma Unincorporated communities in Oklahoma {{Oklahoma-geo-stub