This is a Real Photograph Postcard RPPC taken in the HealdtonOil Field. The image is view across the oil field at Healdton. This viewincludes 22 or more oil derricks. There are buildings, equipment and pipelinesin the scene. This old postcard is in very good condition with minor spotting andworn corners. This old postcard is in very good condition with minor spotting andworn corners. This “CYRO” Real Photo postcard is un-mailed and has “Healdton,Okla.” written on the back in pencil.

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Information on HEALDTON, OKLAHOMA

Healdton is approximately 25 miles west of Ardmore, Oklahoma,90 miles south of Oklahoma City, and 130 miles north of Dallas Texas.

Within a 22-mile swath across Carter County, one of thenation\'s greatest oil discoveries was made - the Greater Healdton-Hewitt Field.Encompassing some of the richest oil-producing land in America, Healdton andHewitt, discovered in 1913 and 1919 respectively, produced an astounding320,753,000 barrels of crude by the close of the first half of the

HEALDTON: OKLAHOMA\'S FIRST STATE-REGULATED OIL FIELD

Granite monument on Highway 76 in Healdton, in front ofHealdton Oil Museum

Production of crude oil from the newly-discovered Healdtonfield surrounding this marker site flooded the market with an oversupply ofpetroleum. Protesting that pipeline purchases were inadequate, producersclaimed they were being deprived of individual rights to produce and sell theirshare of the field\'s production.

In response, theOklahoma Corporation Commission, in May, 1914, ordered the pipeline carrier toincrease purchases of produced oil, provide facilities for rail shipment andbuild field tankage. The pipeline was further ordered to purchase oil ratablyand equitably from Healdton producers.

This order resultingin proration of oil purchasing, nine months after the field\'s discovery inAugust, 1913, made Healdton the first field in the state to be regulated by astate commission. This early-day proration was a forerunner of petroleumconservation laws to prevent physical and economic waste of petroleum energy inmost oil states.

By late 1915,prolific production at Healdton and other Oklahoma oil fields supplied energyfor a burgeoning automotive age in the United States and the Allied war machineof World War I. As the Healdton field boomed, the influx of oilmen overtaxedthe community\'s facilities.

Hastily-built stores,rooming and boarding houses and entertainment places turned the community intoa typical oil boom town. The principal boom town area was called Ragtown.

Oklahoma HistoricalSociety, with Oklahoma Petroleum Council,

HEALDTON, OKLAHOMA

The city of Healdton, which lies along State Highway 76 inwestern Carter County, twenty-four miles west of Ardmore, was originally calledMason for its founder, Elisha Mason. The local post office was established in1883 one-half mile east of the current townsite. Mason was renamed Healdton inhonor of Charles H. Heald, who settled in the community in 1888 and became itspostmaster in 1897. Prior to 1907 statehood Healdton was situated withinPickens County in the Chickasaw Nation, Indian Territory.

Healdton flourished as a cotton center until the Oklahoma,New Mexico and Pacific Railway was constructed in 1913-14. The track extendedwest from Ardmore to Ringling and south of Healdton. Thus bypassed, manyresidents moved closer to the railroad, causing the local economy to fail.Fortunately, the Healdton Oil Field was discovered in 1913. As a result, in1916-17 the Ringling and Oil Fields Railway was built north from near Ringlingto just west of Healdton. Ben Heald, Charles Heald\'s son, had succeeded his fatheras postmaster. Seeing an opportunity for town growth, he moved the post officeto the railroad and established \"new\" Healdton at its presentlocation.

The petroleum industry transformed Healdton into a thrivingcommunity. Many of Oklahoma\'s oil pioneers, including Wirt Franklin, Robert A.Hefner, Sr., Erle Halliburton, and Lloyd Noble, established operations in theHealdton Field. By 1918 the oil produced there accounted for 15 percent of thestate\'s output. During the 1920s and 1930s the Healdton Field began to deplete.Oil is still produced in the area, although on a smaller scale.

In 1920 Healdton\'s population was 2,157. That figure droppedto 2,017 in 1930, but grew from 2,578 in 1950 to 2,898 in 1960. The number ofresidents peaked at 3,769 in 1980 before falling from 2,872 in 1990 to 2,786 in2000. The town had eighty-six businesses in 2000, including thirteen related tothe petroleum and natural gas industries. The weekly Healdton Herald has servedthe community since circa 1917. At the turn of the twenty-first centuryHealdton presently had a home-rule charter form of government.

Actress Eddi Rue McClanahan is a Healdton native. TheHealdton National Guard Armory (NR 94000280) and the nearby Zaneis SchoolTeachers\' Dormitory (NR 85001800) are listed in the National Register ofHistoric Places. Local attractions include the Healdton Oil Museum, an OklahomaHistorical Society affiliate.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: The History of Carter County (Fort Worth,Tex.: University Supply and Equipment Co., 1957). Kenny A. Franks, Ragtown: AHistory of the Greater Healdton-Hewitt Oil Field (Oklahoma City: OklahomaHeritage Association, 1986). \"Healdton,\" Vertical File, ResearchDivision, Oklahoma Historical Society, Oklahoma City.

Greater Southwest Historical Museum and Carter CountyGenealogy Society