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 ...
located in
Okmulgee County, Oklahoma
Okmulgee County is a county in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2020 census, the population was 36,706. The county seat is Okmulgee. Located within the Muscogee Nation Reservation, the county was created at statehood in 1907. The name Ok ...
, United States. The population was 169 at the 2020 census.
History
First known as Hamilton Switch, and now unrecognizable from the past, Preston was once a highly prosperous community, thriving mainly from the
oil boom
An oil boom is a period of large inflow of income as a result of high global oil prices or large oil production in an economy. Generally, this short period initially brings economic benefits, in terms of increased GDP growth, but might later lead ...
, as did many of the surrounding communities. Later on, as the oil industry quieted in Preston, it served as a station for restocking trains and running cattle trails, loading water from Frisco Lake.
The post office was established December 13, 1909. It was named for an Okmulgee oilman, Harry Preston.
It currently has two schools, three churches, a single gas station, feed store, a heating and air company, and a hair salon, as well as a fire protection business and the offices of Oklahoma Rural Water District No. 2.
U.S. Route 75
U.S. Route 75 is a north–south U.S. Highway that runs in the central United States. The highway's northern terminus is located at the Canadian border near Noyes, Minnesota, at a now-closed border crossing. From this point, the highway ...
, a major national north/south artery for much of its length, currently running from the Canada–US border at Noyes, Minnesota to
Dallas
Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...
.
Preston is also on Old Highway 75, being the previous two-lane alignment of US-75 running north to Beggs and south to Okmulgee.