Felt is a small

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

and

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

(CDP) in

Cimarron County Cimarron County is the westernmost County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Its county seat is Boise City, Oklahoma, Boise City. As of the 2010 United States Census, 2020 census, its population was 2,296, making it the le ...

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town’s population was 77. It was named for C.F.W. Felt of the

Santa Fe Railroad The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the largest Class 1 railroads in the United States between 1859 and 1996. The Santa Fe was a pioneer in intermodal freight transport; at variou ...

. Nearby is the Cedar Breaks Archeological District, included on the National Register of Historic Places listings in Cimarron County, Oklahoma. The community is served by a post office (established July 16, 1926) and a school. During the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

in 1936 a farm in Felt was the site of the iconic

Dust Bowl The Dust Bowl was a period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the American and Canadian prairies during the 1930s. The phenomenon was caused by a combination of natural factors (severe drought) and hum ...

photograph titled '' Farmer and Sons Walking in the Face of a Dust Storm''. Felt was the original destination of the Elkhart and Santa Fe Railway. This line, both leased to and a wholly owned subsidiary of the

Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the largest Class 1 railroads in the United States between 1859 and 1996. The Santa Fe was a pioneer in intermodal freight transport; at vario ...

, was built in 1925 from

Elkhart, Kansas Elkhart is a city in and the county seat of Morton County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 1,888. The southern edge of the city is the Kansas-Oklahoma state border, and the city is from the Kans ...

through Boise City to the town, and extended to

Clayton, New Mexico Clayton is a town in and the county seat of Union County, New Mexico, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 2,980. History Early history Native Americans were present in the area of Clayton for at least 10,000 years, ...

in 1932; but, the whole segment from Boise City to Clayton was abandoned in 1942.

Geography

Felt is located in southwestern Cimarron County, near the western end of the Oklahoma Panhandle. Felt is less than five miles north of the

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

border, and just over 12 miles east of the

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

border. It is the nearest Oklahoma community to the Texhomex marker, being about 14 miles east-northeast of the tripoint of Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico. U.S. Routes 56, 64, and

412 __NOTOC__ Year 412 ( CDXII) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known in Europe as the Year of the Consulship of Honorius and Theodosius (or, less frequently, year 1165 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denom ...

pass concurrently through the community, leading northeast to Boise City, the Cimarron County seat, and southwest to the larger

. The town is essentially surrounded by the Rita Blanca National Grassland, and the federally-maintained Felt Picnic Site is just south of town. Felt Picnic Area April 2024

Demographics

References

Census-designated places in Cimarron County, Oklahoma Census-designated places in Oklahoma Oklahoma Panhandle {{Oklahoma-geo-stub