Capron, Oklahoma
Encyclopedia
Capron is a town in Woods County
, Oklahoma
, United States
. The population was 42 at the 2000 census
.
According to the United States Census Bureau
, the town has a total area of 0.1 square mile (0.258998811 km²), all of it land.
of 2000, there were 42 people, 17 households, and 10 families residing in the town. The population density
was 370.2 people per square mile (147.4/km²). There were 20 housing units at an average density of 176.3 per square mile (70.2/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 100.00% White.
There are 17 households, out of which 23.5% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.8% were married couples
living together, 5.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.3% were non-families. 29.4% of all households are made up of individuals, and 11.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.47 and the average family size was 3.18.
In the town the population is spread out, with 19.0% under the age of 18, 7.1% from 18 to 24, 33.3% from 25 to 44, 28.6% from 45 to 64, and 11.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females there were 133.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 112.5 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $24,250, and the median income for a family was $23,750. Males had a median income of $22,500 versus $16,250 for females. The per capita income
for the town was $11,156. None of the population and none of the families were below the poverty line.
Roosevelt's Rough Riders
, and had been killed at the Battle of San Juan Hill
. The name of "Capron" was approved by a petition of the residents. The Santa Fe and U. S. Postal service accepted the name and so it stands today.
At one time Capron was quite a thriving community. It had two banks; the Bank of Capron, and the Capron State Bank; three general stores; two drug stores; a hotel; depot; a millinery shop; theater; blacksmith; a weekly newspaper, The Capron Hustler; a monthly newspaper, The Screech Owl; two barber shops; hardware store; lumber yard; two churches, Warburton Memorial Methodist Church, and First Congregational Church; the Driftwood Telephone Company and Hampton's Foot Powder Factory.
In April 1939 a tornado
struck Capron, making a straight line down the main business street. Many of the residents of town did not even know the tornado has struck until the next morning when they went downtown to open their stores and found them gone. Most tornadoes sound like trains, and since a train goes through Capron about every 20 minutes no one noticed! Most of the above businesses, and the public school building, which was only 10 years old, were destroyed. The majority of these businesses were never rebuilt. However, the public schools were rebuilt.
Capron was always concerned with having a good school system. In 1894 a small but enterprising group of Driftwood Township citizens provided for the establishment of the first Capron Public Schools. The school consisted of grades 1–8 and consisted of a two-room frame building located south and east of the present south Coop Grain Elevator. This building proved adequate until 1909 when a new two-story brick building was built in the north end of town at the site of the present school building. The cost of the 1909 building was $8,500.00. In 1929 residents approved the building of a new one-story building with a large gymnasium and auditorium attached. The old two-story building was torn down to make way for this modern facility. This building was destroyed in the 1939 tornado and a new building, auditorium and gymnasium were built in 1940. At the time, this facility was considered to be one of the best schools in northwest Oklahoma. Additions to the present building were made: in 1952, vocational agriculture building; 1956, additional classrooms and music room; and 1964, when a new cafeteria was added to the school. The high school was first accredited in 1912. In 1968 the high school was closed due to falling enrollment. There were no families in the school district on public assistance in 1968, and the patrons of the district never voted down a tax increase for their school; they wanted the very best for their children. The Elementary School, grades K–8 were closed in 1976 by a vote of the patrons which carried by only one vote. The vote was contested. This decision was taken to court and eventually upheld by the Oklahoma Supreme Court. Today Capron has two large concrete grain elevators, a rural water district office, United Methodist Church, garage, filling station, and American Legion Post. The Post Office closed in 1994 after 100 years of service to the citizens of the area. It is hard to believe that any of this once thriving little center of trade ever existed and today lives only in the memories of many of its older residents.
Woods County, Oklahoma
Woods County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of 2000, the population was 9,089. Its county seat is Alva. The county is named after Samuel Newitt Wood, a renowned Kansas populist. -Geography:According to the U.S...
, Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The population was 42 at the 2000 census
United States Census, 2000
The Twenty-second United States Census, known as Census 2000 and conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2% over the 248,709,873 persons enumerated during the 1990 Census...
.
Geography
Capron is located at 36°53′47"N 98°34′42"W (36.896307, -98.578351).According to the United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...
, the town has a total area of 0.1 square mile (0.258998811 km²), all of it land.
Demographics
As of the censusCensus
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
of 2000, there were 42 people, 17 households, and 10 families residing in the town. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
was 370.2 people per square mile (147.4/km²). There were 20 housing units at an average density of 176.3 per square mile (70.2/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 100.00% White.
There are 17 households, out of which 23.5% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.8% were married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
living together, 5.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.3% were non-families. 29.4% of all households are made up of individuals, and 11.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.47 and the average family size was 3.18.
In the town the population is spread out, with 19.0% under the age of 18, 7.1% from 18 to 24, 33.3% from 25 to 44, 28.6% from 45 to 64, and 11.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females there were 133.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 112.5 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $24,250, and the median income for a family was $23,750. Males had a median income of $22,500 versus $16,250 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...
for the town was $11,156. None of the population and none of the families were below the poverty line.
History
Prior to the opening of the Cherokee Strip in 1893, Capron, Oklahoma was first known as "Warren", a small cattle station on the main line of the Santa Fe railroad. It consisted of a store, and an old railroad car left by the Santa Fe. Sometime after the opening of the strip residents wanted to come up with a new name for the growing town. The name was changed to "Sterling", but the postal service and Santa Fe would not accept it because there was a town by that name on their line in Kansas. The names of "Virgil" and "Kermit" were proposed, but Santa Fe would not accept these names, for the same reason. Therefore, a committee consisting of Mr. George Espy, postmaster, Dr. G.W. Todd, and Congressman Dennis Flynn was appointed to select a name which the Santa Fe and Postal Service would accept. The name of Captain Allyn K. Capron, Jr. was proposed. Captain Capron was a member of TeddyTheodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
Roosevelt's Rough Riders
Rough Riders
The Rough Riders is the name bestowed on the 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry, one of three such regiments raised in 1898 for the Spanish-American War and the only one of the three to see action. The United States Army was weakened and left with little manpower after the American Civil War...
, and had been killed at the Battle of San Juan Hill
Battle of San Juan Hill
The Battle of San Juan Hill , also known as the battle for the San Juan Heights, was a decisive battle of the Spanish-American War. The San Juan heights was a north-south running elevation about two kilometers east of Santiago de Cuba. The names San Juan Hill and Kettle Hill were names given by the...
. The name of "Capron" was approved by a petition of the residents. The Santa Fe and U. S. Postal service accepted the name and so it stands today.
At one time Capron was quite a thriving community. It had two banks; the Bank of Capron, and the Capron State Bank; three general stores; two drug stores; a hotel; depot; a millinery shop; theater; blacksmith; a weekly newspaper, The Capron Hustler; a monthly newspaper, The Screech Owl; two barber shops; hardware store; lumber yard; two churches, Warburton Memorial Methodist Church, and First Congregational Church; the Driftwood Telephone Company and Hampton's Foot Powder Factory.
In April 1939 a tornado
Tornado
A tornado is a violent, dangerous, rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. They are often referred to as a twister or a cyclone, although the word cyclone is used in meteorology in a wider...
struck Capron, making a straight line down the main business street. Many of the residents of town did not even know the tornado has struck until the next morning when they went downtown to open their stores and found them gone. Most tornadoes sound like trains, and since a train goes through Capron about every 20 minutes no one noticed! Most of the above businesses, and the public school building, which was only 10 years old, were destroyed. The majority of these businesses were never rebuilt. However, the public schools were rebuilt.
Capron was always concerned with having a good school system. In 1894 a small but enterprising group of Driftwood Township citizens provided for the establishment of the first Capron Public Schools. The school consisted of grades 1–8 and consisted of a two-room frame building located south and east of the present south Coop Grain Elevator. This building proved adequate until 1909 when a new two-story brick building was built in the north end of town at the site of the present school building. The cost of the 1909 building was $8,500.00. In 1929 residents approved the building of a new one-story building with a large gymnasium and auditorium attached. The old two-story building was torn down to make way for this modern facility. This building was destroyed in the 1939 tornado and a new building, auditorium and gymnasium were built in 1940. At the time, this facility was considered to be one of the best schools in northwest Oklahoma. Additions to the present building were made: in 1952, vocational agriculture building; 1956, additional classrooms and music room; and 1964, when a new cafeteria was added to the school. The high school was first accredited in 1912. In 1968 the high school was closed due to falling enrollment. There were no families in the school district on public assistance in 1968, and the patrons of the district never voted down a tax increase for their school; they wanted the very best for their children. The Elementary School, grades K–8 were closed in 1976 by a vote of the patrons which carried by only one vote. The vote was contested. This decision was taken to court and eventually upheld by the Oklahoma Supreme Court. Today Capron has two large concrete grain elevators, a rural water district office, United Methodist Church, garage, filling station, and American Legion Post. The Post Office closed in 1994 after 100 years of service to the citizens of the area. It is hard to believe that any of this once thriving little center of trade ever existed and today lives only in the memories of many of its older residents.