Shamrock () is an unincorporated town 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, located on

Oklahoma State Highway 16 State Highway 16 (SH-16 or OK-16) is a state highway in Oklahoma. It runs in an irregular 99.2-mile west-to-east pattern through the northeastern part of the state, running from SH-33 at Drumright to SH-51 at Wagoner. There are no letter-su ...

south of Drumright and west-northwest of Bristow. The population was 65 at the time of the 2020 census. It was named for Shamrock, Illinois (just southeast of Bloomington), the hometown of local store owner, James M. Thomas.

History

In 1908, James M. Thomas, a native of Shamrock, Illinois, moved to this area and opened a store. He named the post office that he established on July 9, 1910, in honor of his home town. Between 1915 and 1916, the Sapulpa and Oil Field Railroad (later the St. Louis and San Francisco Railway) built a line northward from Depew to Shamrock. The railroad bypassed the town by three-fourths of a mile, so the citizens moved their businesses closer to the railroad. In 1916, 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 ...

constructed a line that connected Shamrock and Drumright. These lines developed Shamrock as a major shipping point for oil field equipment and crude oil. The town adopted an Irish theme, with streets named Tipperary, Dublin, Killarney, Blarney, and Cork. Shamrock became quite the oil and gas boomtown when the nearby

Cushing Oil Field The Cushing Oil Field, also known as the Cushing-Drumright Oil Field, is an oil field in northeastern Oklahoma, part of the Mid-Continent oil province. The by field includes southeastern Payne County, northwestern Creek County, and northeaste ...

began to develop. Numerous oilfield camps began to spring up in the vicinity, and Shamrock developed a reputation as a bawdy town with saloons, gambling halls, and brothels. Colorful stories abound. Two noted oilmen,

Tom Slick Thomas Baker Slick Jr. (May 6, 1916 – October 6, 1962) was a San Antonio, Texas-based inventor, businessman, adventurer, and heir to an oil business. Slick's father, Thomas Baker Slick Sr., a.k.a. "The King of the Wildcatters", had made ...

and

Harry Sinclair Harry Alan Sinclair (born 1959) is a New Zealand film director, writer and actor. In his early career he was an actor and member of The Front Lawn, a musical theatre duo. He went on to write and direct several short films, a TV series and th ...

, had a few drinks one night and were racing horse teams up and down Shamrock's main street. The Big Six gambling hall had a one-legged fiddle player who was known to take off his wooden leg and use it as a club to keep order in the place. However, the oil boom and its workers started moving to new areas in the mid-1920s, and Shamrock began to shrink. Still, the town was exciting enough in 1932 to have its bank robbed by

Pretty Boy Floyd Charles Arthur Floyd (February 3, 1904 – October 22, 1934), nicknamed Pretty Boy Floyd, was an American bank robber. He operated in the West and Central states, and his criminal exploits gained widespread press coverage in the 1930s. He was s ...

. Shamrock at one point had two weekly newspapers. One was The Shamrock Brogue. The editorial in the first issue dated January 1, 1916, summarized the paper's view and intent: “Shamrock is on the map to stay and the Brogue is here to boost for the town. The Brogue will never knock. The mission of a newspaper is to boost for its own home town first, last and all the time, and that is the program that the Brogue will follow.” The other paper was the Shamrock Blarney, first printed on March 9, 1916. Both papers were succeeded by the Creek County Democrat, which published to at least January 23, 1930. The board of trustees voted to dissolve the town in June 2010.

Geography

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 ...

, the town 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 125 people, 47 households, and 29 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 70 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 89.60%

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 ...

, 8.80% Native American, and 1.60% 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 0.80% of the population. There were 47 households, out of which 31.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.9% 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, 10.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.2% were non-families. 23.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.66 and the average family size was 3.33. In the town, the population was spread out, with 35.2% under the age of 18, 4.0% from 18 to 24, 26.4% from 25 to 44, 20.0% from 45 to 64, and 14.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females, there were 104.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.9 males. The median income for a household in the town was $21,250, and the median income for a family was $21,875. Males had a median income of $22,917 versus $15,000 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 town was $9,948. There were 20.6% of families and 29.5% of the population living 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 36.2% of under eighteens and 6.3% of those over 64.

References

External links

{{authority control Towns in Creek County, Oklahoma Towns in Oklahoma Populated places disestablished in 2010 Former municipalities in Oklahoma Muscogee (Creek) Nation