Ripley is a town in southeastern
Payne County
Payne County is located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2010 census, the population was 77,350. Its county seat is Stillwater. The county was created in 1890 as part of Oklahoma Territory and is named for Capt. David L. Payne, a lead ...
,
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 ...
, United States.
[Carla S. Chlouber, "Ripley," ''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture''.](_blank)
Accessed May 31, 2015. The population was 423 at the 2010 census, a decline of 9.2 percent from the figure of 444 in
2000
File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...
. The town was named after
Edward Ripley, the 14th president of the
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway.
History
The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (often called simply the Santa Fe) developed Ripley and auctioned the first lots on January 13, 1900. Three months later, the ''Ripley Times'', reported that the community's population had already reached 1,000 persons. The first wagon bridge across the
Cimarron River was completed July 31, 1900, which was the excuse for a big party that lasted until the wee hours of the next morning.
Agriculture became the main source of income besides the railroad. A large farm named Morehead Plantation hired many African-American laborers to produce cotton. The cotton business declined sharply after
World War I, but oil discoveries in the county offset the cotton decline for a while. However, oil markets declined in the late 1920s and the beginning of the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
caused the town economy to decline. Ripley's population declined from a peak of 487 in 1930 to 292 in 1950 and 263 in 1960. The population rebounded to 451 in 1980 and 376 in 1990.
It peaked again in 2009 at 510; by 2016, it dropped to 403 people.
Geography
Ripley is located at .
According to the
United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , all land. Ripley is on the
Cimarron River; it is southeast of
Stillwater ( east on
State Highway 51 and south on
State Highway 108),
and west-northwest of
Cushing.
Cushing Lake, which offers a boat ramp, dock, and picnic area,
is just to the southeast.
Demographics
As of the
census of 2000, there were 444 people, 158 households, and 118 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 180 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 89.64%
White, 0.00%
African American, 4.95%
Native American, 0.00%
Asian, 0.00%
Pacific Islander, 0.00% from
other races, and 5.41% from two or more races. 1.35% of the population were
Hispanic or
Latino of any race.
There were 158 households, out of which 40.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.3% were
married couples
Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between t ...
living together, 15.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.7% were non-families. 23.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.81 and the average family size was 3.21.
In the town, the population was spread out, with 32.9% under the age of 18, 9.5% from 18 to 24, 26.1% from 25 to 44, 19.6% from 45 to 64, and 11.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females, there were 88.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.3 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $24,643, and the median income for a family was $36,250. Males had a median income of $26,500 versus $15,250 for females. The
per capita income
Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population.
Per capita i ...
for the town was $10,030. 18.9% of the population and 18.0% of families 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 ...
. 19.7% of those under the age of 18 and 9.1% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.
Notable people
*
William A. Berry (1915–2004). Born in Ripley. Became an attorney and Justice of the Oklahoma Supreme Court. Notable for exposing corrupt practices by certain justices in his book, ''Justice for Sale: Shocking Scandal of the Oklahoma Supreme Court''.
*
Billy McGinty (1871–1961) McGinty was a member of the Roosevelt Rough Riders Association in the Spanish–American War, and was the association's last president. McGinty's Cowboy Band, headquartered in Ripley, played the nation's first radio broadcast by a Western string band on May 7, 1925 over Bristow's station
KFRU
KFRU (1400 AM) is a radio station located in Columbia, Missouri. Its programming format consists primarily of news and talk. The station is licensed to Cumulus Media. The station is also audible on translator K255DJ 98.9 FM in Columbia.
Histo ...
.
*
Casey Sadler
Casey Scott Sadler (born July 13, 1990) is an American professional baseball pitcher in the Seattle Mariners organization. He has previously played for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Tampa Bay Rays, Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago Cubs and Mariners.
Caree ...
(1990-)
MLB
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
pitcher for the
Seattle Mariners
The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The team joined the American League as an expansion team ...
Landmarks
*
Allen Williamson Bridge
Allen Williamson Bridge is the name of a memorial bridge in Payne County, Oklahoma, named after a former State Representative who served in the Oklahoma State House of Representatives from 1966 - 1974. This politician should not be confused with ...
- Memorial bridge near Ripley, named after the Oklahoma Representative
Allen Williamson
Allen Williamson (fl. c. 1970) is a former Oklahoma politician who served in the Oklahoma House of Representatives from 1966 to 1974. He is related to James Allen Williamson, an Oklahoma State Senator elected in 1996.
A bridge near the town of ...
.
* The Hopkins Sandstone House and Farmstead is listed on the
.
Notes
References
{{authority control
Towns in Payne County, Oklahoma
Towns in Oklahoma
Populated places established in 1900