Kaw City, Oklahoma

Kaw City, Oklahoma. . , The original town of Kaw City was established in Oklahoma Territory in the Ox Bow Bend of the Arkansas River by the Kaw City Townsite Company. The company consisted of William M. Jenkins, fifth territorial governor of O.T., N.F. Frazier, C.W. Carey and W.E. Brown. The first town lots were offered for sale on July 4, 1902. Being ideally located on a railroad line at the threshold of the Kaw and Osage Reservations to the north and east and in the midst of a fertile and productive farming and cattle country, the new town grew and flourished through the early years. Oil discovery in the 1920s in the Burbank Field brought new and even more building to the community. However, disaster struck on June 23, 1923 Major flood waters covered the business district and destroyed the south bridge impacting vital trade. The depression of the 1930s and the loss of many citizens during World War II further damaged the town. The final blow came in 1957 with the move to construct the Kaw Dam which would inundate Kaw City. The town purchased the present townsite and the Old Pioneers and the New Pioneers began to build their new city. They took with them a part of the past in the form of the old Santa Santa Fe Depot which became the Kaw City Museum.