Crescent, Oklahoma
Encyclopedia
Crescent is a city in Logan County
, Oklahoma
, United States
. The population inside the city limits was 1,281 at the 2000 census
. It is part of the Oklahoma City
Metropolitan Statistical Area
. Sperling Best Places lists the zip code population of Crescent at 3,269 in 2010.
on March 2, 1889, and officially started that fall when William Brown began selling general merchandise out of a wagon. Soon he took on a partner, Benjamin Ryland, and the two moved into a log cabin. A post office christened "Crescent City" was established on February 21, 1890, the name taken from a moon-shaped glade where the town began. In November 1891 the town site was platted, and incorporated in 1893. The Denver, Enid and Gulf Railroad
laid track one mile (1.6 km) west of the city in 1902, and the city obtained 160 acre (0.6474976 km²) of land from two farmers (C. E. Wells and J. H. Rhoades) creating "new Crescent" or "West Crescent"; eventually the town moved to the new location. Oil was discovered north of town in 1926 and then south of town in 1930 in the "Crescent Oil Field".
On June 20, 1934 the Farmers and Merchants Bank was robbed by a group of men. The group took 13 hostages to help conceal the attempt and to help move the safe. They had the hostages load the safe into the back of a truck and drove the hostages and safe out of town. They ended up leaving both behind, hostages unhurt and safe unopened.
In 1965 the Cimarron Processing Facility
was opened by Kerr-McGee
(owned through a subsidiary, Kerr-McGee Nuclear Corp.) to convert powdered uranium hexafluoride
and plutonium
into fuel pellets for use in the nation's nuclear power plants. The site became the center of highly controversial revelations within the petrochemical industry, when in the early 1970s, working conditions and manufacturing practices at the facility became dangerous. The 1983 Oscar-nominated film Silkwood
, based around Karen Silkwood
(who became contaminated) and her death (in 1974), is a movie about those revelations. In 1976 the facility closed down production. The United States Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) would state that the groundwater contamination (around where the facility once buried radioactive waste) was rising near the plant and was 400 times higher than federal drinking-water standards allowed in 1989, while levels were 208 to 360 times higher than federal standards in 1985-87. Several cleanup and decommissioning projects have been attempted, with none completed as of 2011.
According to the United States Census Bureau
, the city has a total area of 1.1 square miles (2.8 km²), all of it land.
of 2000, there were 1,281 people, 562 households, and 361 families residing in the city. The population density
was 1,206.2 people per square mile (466.6/km²). There were 639 housing units at an average density of 601.7 per square mile (232.8/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 88.5% White, 4.7% African American, 2.6% Native American, 0.1% Asian, 0.5% from other races
, and 3.7% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.0% of the population.
There were 562 households, of which 29.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.8% were married couples
living together, 10.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.6% were non-families. 33.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 19.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.28 and the average family size was 2.90.
In the city the population was spread out with 25.1% under the age of 18, 6.7% from 18 to 24, 25.5% from 25 to 44, 19.4% from 45 to 64, and 23.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 93.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.3 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $25,096, and the median income for a family was $32,206. Males had a median income of $25,602 versus $21,121 for females. The per capita income
for the city was $16,081. About 13.2% of families and 16.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 21.4% of those under age 18 and 9.8% of those age 65 or over.
Logan County, Oklahoma
Logan County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The population as of 2009 was 39,301. Its county seat is Guthrie. Logan County is part of the Oklahoma City Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:...
, 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 inside the city limits was 1,281 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...
. It is part of the Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Oklahoma City is the capital and the largest city in the state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, the city ranks 31st among United States cities in population. The city's population, from the 2010 census, was 579,999, with a metro-area population of 1,252,987 . In 2010, the Oklahoma...
Metropolitan Statistical Area
Oklahoma City metropolitan area
-Metro-area suburbs and exurbs:The following communities are suburbs and exurbs of Oklahoma City with populations of at least 1,000 found within the bounds of State Highway 33 to the north, State Highway 18 and US-177 to the east, State Highway 39 and State Highway 9 to the south, and US-81 to the...
. Sperling Best Places lists the zip code population of Crescent at 3,269 in 2010.
History
Crescent was formed with the Indian Appropriations Act of 1889Indian Appropriations Act
The Indian Appropriations Act is the name of several acts passed by the United States Congress. A considerable number of acts were passed under the same name throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, but the most notable landmark acts consist of the 1851 Indian Appropriations Act and the 1871...
on March 2, 1889, and officially started that fall when William Brown began selling general merchandise out of a wagon. Soon he took on a partner, Benjamin Ryland, and the two moved into a log cabin. A post office christened "Crescent City" was established on February 21, 1890, the name taken from a moon-shaped glade where the town began. In November 1891 the town site was platted, and incorporated in 1893. The Denver, Enid and Gulf Railroad
Denver, Enid and Gulf Railroad
The Denver, Enid and Gulf Railroad was built as a short line railroad operating in Kansas, and Oklahoma. Incorporated in Oklahoma as the Denver, Enid and Gulf Railroad Company, March 31, 1902, by the five Frantz Brothers....
laid track one mile (1.6 km) west of the city in 1902, and the city obtained 160 acre (0.6474976 km²) of land from two farmers (C. E. Wells and J. H. Rhoades) creating "new Crescent" or "West Crescent"; eventually the town moved to the new location. Oil was discovered north of town in 1926 and then south of town in 1930 in the "Crescent Oil Field".
On June 20, 1934 the Farmers and Merchants Bank was robbed by a group of men. The group took 13 hostages to help conceal the attempt and to help move the safe. They had the hostages load the safe into the back of a truck and drove the hostages and safe out of town. They ended up leaving both behind, hostages unhurt and safe unopened.
In 1965 the Cimarron Processing Facility
Cimarron Fuel Fabrication Site
The Cimarron Fuel Fabrication Site was a nuclear fuel production facility located by the Cimarron River near Crescent, Oklahoma. It was operated by Kerr-McGee Corporation from 1965-1975.- History :...
was opened by Kerr-McGee
Kerr-McGee
The Kerr-McGee Corporation, founded in 1929, was an energy company involved in the exploration and production of oil and gas. On June 23, 2006, Houston-based Anadarko Petroleum Corporation agreed to acquire Kerr-McGee in an all-cash transaction totaling $16.5 billion plus the assumption of $2.6...
(owned through a subsidiary, Kerr-McGee Nuclear Corp.) to convert powdered uranium hexafluoride
Uranium hexafluoride
Uranium hexafluoride , referred to as "hex" in the nuclear industry, is a compound used in the uranium enrichment process that produces fuel for nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons. It forms solid grey crystals at standard temperature and pressure , is highly toxic, reacts violently with water...
and plutonium
Plutonium
Plutonium is a transuranic radioactive chemical element with the chemical symbol Pu and atomic number 94. It is an actinide metal of silvery-gray appearance that tarnishes when exposed to air, forming a dull coating when oxidized. The element normally exhibits six allotropes and four oxidation...
into fuel pellets for use in the nation's nuclear power plants. The site became the center of highly controversial revelations within the petrochemical industry, when in the early 1970s, working conditions and manufacturing practices at the facility became dangerous. The 1983 Oscar-nominated film Silkwood
Silkwood
Silkwood is a 1983 American drama film directed by Mike Nichols. The screenplay by Nora Ephron and Alice Arlen was inspired by the true-life story of Karen Silkwood, who died in a suspicious car accident while investigating alleged wrongdoing at the Kerr-McGee plutonium plant where she...
, based around Karen Silkwood
Karen Silkwood
Karen Gay Silkwood was an American labor union activist and chemical technician at the Kerr-McGee plant near Crescent, Oklahoma, United States. Silkwood's job was making plutonium pellets for nuclear reactor fuel rods...
(who became contaminated) and her death (in 1974), is a movie about those revelations. In 1976 the facility closed down production. The United States Environmental Protection Agency
United States Environmental Protection Agency
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is an agency of the federal government of the United States charged with protecting human health and the environment, by writing and enforcing regulations based on laws passed by Congress...
(EPA) would state that the groundwater contamination (around where the facility once buried radioactive waste) was rising near the plant and was 400 times higher than federal drinking-water standards allowed in 1989, while levels were 208 to 360 times higher than federal standards in 1985-87. Several cleanup and decommissioning projects have been attempted, with none completed as of 2011.
Population trends
- 1900: 1390
- 1910: 903
- 1920: 878
- 1930: 1,190
- 1940: 1,301
- 1970: 1,568
- 1980: 1,651
- 2000: 1,281
Geography
Crescent is located at 35°57′11"N 97°35′41"W (35.953137, -97.594593).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 city has a total area of 1.1 square miles (2.8 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 1,281 people, 562 households, and 361 families residing in the city. 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 1,206.2 people per square mile (466.6/km²). There were 639 housing units at an average density of 601.7 per square mile (232.8/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 88.5% White, 4.7% African American, 2.6% Native American, 0.1% Asian, 0.5% from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, and 3.7% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.0% of the population.
There were 562 households, of which 29.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.8% 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, 10.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.6% were non-families. 33.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 19.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.28 and the average family size was 2.90.
In the city the population was spread out with 25.1% under the age of 18, 6.7% from 18 to 24, 25.5% from 25 to 44, 19.4% from 45 to 64, and 23.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 93.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.3 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $25,096, and the median income for a family was $32,206. Males had a median income of $25,602 versus $21,121 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 city was $16,081. About 13.2% of families and 16.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 21.4% of those under age 18 and 9.8% of those age 65 or over.
Notable natives
- Hubert Eugene "Geese" AusbieHubert AusbieHubert Eugene "Geese" Ausbie is a retired professional basketball player. He was born in Crescent, Oklahoma.Ausbie played basketball at Philander Smith College in Little Rock, Arkansas, where he earned All-Conference and All-American honors. Ausbie was one of the leading college scorers in the...
(born April 25, 1938), a retired professional basketball player and manager for the Harlem Globetrotters. Played for Douglass High School in Crescent (black students), he averaged more than 40 points-per-game. In 1955 during a week for the district tournament, he scored 70 points (vs. Meridian L'Ouverture), 54 (vs. Arcadia Dunbar), and 62 (vs. Mulhall). The 186 points in three games remains an Oklahoma tournament record.
- Bradley Manning, a former United States Army intelligence analyst who is currently (2010–11) imprisoned and awaiting possible court-martial, owing to his implication as the primary suspect in the Wikileaks scandalWikileaksWikiLeaks is an international self-described not-for-profit organisation that publishes submissions of private, secret, and classified media from anonymous news sources, news leaks, and whistleblowers. Its website, launched in 2006 under The Sunshine Press organisation, claimed a database of more...
.