Obit of History of Cole OK - McClain County, Oklahoma Submitted by: Craig W Gaithright 19 Mar 2006 Return to McClain County Archives: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ok/mcclain/mcclain.html ========================================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm ========================================================================== History of Cole OK Cole News By Mary Green and Rose Mary Treadway The Purcell Register Thursday, May 22, 1975 This story was written at the request of the Curator of the McClain County Historical Museum, for the county history being compiled in 1975. It tells how the Cole community was established. Having the original plat, receipts of money paid to the surveyor and his assistant and having lived there on a farm many years, will enable me to tell the true story. The Cunningham family bought and moved on this farm in 1900. The Walnut Creek bottom land was unplowed until then and was very productive, and we hadn't enough cribs and barns to hold all the corn and other crops we raised on the farm. It was a slow process to get it by wagon to the nearest market. In 1905 the Oklahoma Central railroad started building a road from Ada, through Purcell to Chickasha, and to build the track directly across our farm. This fact prompted my mother, the late Mrs A. E. Cunningham to make plans which she thought would best benefit herself and family and neighbors. Judge Preslie B Cole's farm adjoined ours on the west, thus my mother contacted him about her plan. They had a verbal agreement that each would donate 10 acres of land for the proposed town. Mrs Cunningham said the town would have to be named Cole for him as her family name was too long to be on a sign. She then contacted the Oklahoma Central Railroad officials, and they agreed that if certain conditions were met, they would make Cole a stopping place. The depot at Cole was a large railroad box car, with a pot bellied stove, which burned coal, and some chairs. Now the little village was about to become a reality as Mrs Cunningham's daughter, Clara, now Mrs John Guest of Albuquerque, New Mexico, wrote to the Post Office Department in Washington D.C. to try to secure the establishment of a post office in Cole. They finally had the number of patrons required to get mail at the proposed Cole post office, but hadn't a building. So in 1912 the Cunningham home was the site of the post office established in April 1912. The first letters using the Cole cancellation mark were cancelled by my sister, Clara. I was the assistant and we threw mail bags on and off the trains, which we enjoyed doing. In August, 1913, the surveyor, Mr. Macklin of Chickasha, and his assistant, platted the 10 acres into lots. Only 10 acres were platted as Judge Cole had changed his mind, however the name of the town had already been established by the post office as Cole, Okla., thus it remained. The 10 acres of lots were soon sold, the first two lots being sold to the late A. L. Read for a general merchandise store. When the Read store was complete the post office was built and operated by the late O. A. Maddon and his wife, Sally. She recently celebrated her 91st birthday at her home in Washington, Okla. My memories of the Maddon family are indeed pleasant. The late H.W. Archer of Purcell had a large cotton gin and it was kept busy during the season. The horse and buggy days gradually gave way to faster travel. Our mother had driven the 20 miles from Cole to Purcell in one day many times to visit us at the Convent and to attend Mass. She then departed for the long 20 mile trip home over prairie land, as there were no real roads. The days of automobiles came and the Oklahoma Central Railroad was abandoned and deeds to right of ways were deeded back to the former owners. By that time most people had Model T Fords or some other car and shopped in the larger towns, thus many stores in smaller towns were forced to close. I drove through the Cole community to visit friends in Blanchard and noticed there is very little there to remind me of my childhood. When we were young we were thrilled to attend singings at the Freeny school. Now I am pleased to know Cole has developed some community activities as noted by the Cole News which now appears in the Purcell Register. Our pioneer parents made the rough wagon ruts across our prairies and left us a rich heritage that we should cherish and remember as we drive over the smooth ribbons of concrete today. Thus I dedicate this article to a true pioneer, my mother Abagail Emmaline Cunningham. (The above article was written by Mrs. George Gage, nee Teresa Cunningham.) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Return to McClain County Archives: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ok/mcclain/mcclain.html