Oilton is a city in

Creek County Creek County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2020 census, the population was 71,754. Its county seat is Sapulpa. Creek County is part of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area. History European explorers traveled through t ...

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. The population was 885 at the 2020 census, a 12.6% decline from the 1,013 recorded in 2010.

History

Oilton began during the development of the Cushing-Drumright Oil Field. The first lots were sold in January and February 1915 by Walter Eaton and Ed Dunn. A post office was established May 5, 1915. The First State Bank opened and the newspaper, the ''Oilton Gusher'', began publication in 1915. In the same year, the Oil Belt Terminal Railway connected Oilton to

Jennings Jennings is a surname of early medieval English origin (also the Anglicised version of the Irish surnames Mac Sheóinín or MacJonin). Notable people with the surname include: *Jennings (Swedish noble family) A–G *Adam Jennings (born 1982), A ...

, while the Oil Fields and Santa Fe Railway, an

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 ...

subsidiary, bought the Oil Belt and additionally connected the town to Cushing and Drumright. By 1920, Oilton's population officially peaked at 2,231. It became an incorporated city on April 18, 1921.Wilson, Linda D
"Oilton,"
''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture''. Accessed July 13, 2015. Despite a rapid drop in petroleum production in the Cushing-Drumright field throughout the 1920s and 1930s, Oilton survived when a number of other oilboom towns did not. Oil

Geography

Oilton is located in northwestern Creek County. It is on the south side of the Cimarron River near the head of the inundation limit of

Keystone Lake Keystone Lake is a reservoir in northeastern Oklahoma on the Arkansas and Cimarron rivers. It is located upstream about from Tulsa. It was created in 1968 when the Keystone Dam was completed. The primary purposes are: flood control, hydroelec ...

Oklahoma State Highway 99 State Highway 99 (SH-99) is a north–south state highway through central Oklahoma. It runs from the Texas state line at Lake Texoma to the Kansas state line near Lake Hulah. It is long. The highway overlaps U.S. Highway 377 (US-377) for ov ...

passes through the community, leading north to

and south to Drumright.

Tulsa Tulsa ( ) is the second-most-populous city in the state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tul ...

is to the east, and Stillwater is to the west. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, Oilton has a total area of , all land.

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 1,099 people, 447 households, and 291 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 526 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 86.72%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.82%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 6.64% Native American, 0.73% from other races, and 5.10% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 2.73% of the population. There were 447 households, out of which 33.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.2% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 10.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.7% were non-families. 30.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 16.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.46 and the average family size was 3.11. In the city, the population was spread out, with 29.1% under the age of 18, 9.2% from 18 to 24, 26.7% from 25 to 44, 20.0% from 45 to 64, and 15.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females, there were 89.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.3 males. The median income for a household in the city was $23,274, and the median income for a family was $29,766. Males had a median income of $26,250 versus $19,219 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the city was $11,831. About 21.7% of families and 26.4% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 35.7% of those under age 18 and 12.7% of those age 65 or over.

Economy

Oil production has steadily declined. The local economy is largely agricultural. About 91 percent of the employed Oilton residents commute to jobs in Bristow, Sapulpa and Sand Springs.

References

{{authority control Cities in Oklahoma Cities in Creek County, Oklahoma Muscogee (Creek) Nation