Hulah Santa Fe Depot

Hulah Santa Fe Depot. Dedicated May 12, 1984. The Hulah Santa Fe depot owes its origin to the lush bluestem cattle grazing grass in much of Osage County, Oklahoma. Cattle owners would fatten cattle on this grass before taking them to markets., The Santa Fe railroad in 1918 began building a feeder line from its main line south of Caney to Pawhuska, mainly to bring in and ship out cattle., The Santa Fe built a small depot in Hulah in 1923 to handle freight and some passengers. By this time the town and railroad were starting to get a bonus boost from development of the Burbank oil field some 40 miles southwest., Soon the town had about 50 people, a general store, some dozen houses, a gas compressor station, and a school. The school was named "Brown School", after Charles Brown, a former Osage Indian Chief. The Melvin "Buck" Boren and Brown families owned most of the the surrounding ranchland., In 1951, Hulah Dam was completed on the Caney River and many of Hulah's people moved to new sites on a lake created by the dam. In the early 1960s, cattle and oil shipping had fallen off and in 1966 the Santa Fe closed the feeder line. Hulah became a ghost town with the depot a decaying monument to the once bustling village. The land and depot reverted to the Mullendores, who gained the ranchland through their family relationships with the Browns and Borens., In October 1983, Mrs. Kathleen Mullendore, daughter of Melvin "Buck" Boren and granddaughter of Charles Brown, gave the depot to the Landmark Preservation Council of Bartlesville. The Council arranged to move the depot to Johnstone Park and restored it to its original condition.