These numbers are not good

In Watonga, Okla., the ratio of women older than 18 to men over 18 is 100/191. That is a disparity the likes of which I have never before seen. A town with almost twice as many women as men is a harbinger of problems.

The town’s population decreased by 2,252 between the 2010 Census and the 2018 estimate – 5,111 residents in 2010 and 2,859 eight years later, a 44 percent decrease.

“The city hosted the Diamondback Correctional Facility, owned by the Corrections Corporation of America from 1998, and the prison grew to become the town's largest employer. But the prison, housing Arizona inmates, experienced a riot in May 2004, and the contract to utilize the facility was not renewed, resulting in the prison closing in May 2010. This left 300 prison workers jobless or transferred elsewhere. The prison was still vacant as of March 2017.

“The town Walmart closed in 2016.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watonga,_Oklahoma

The first prisoners housed in the Diamondback facility were from Hawaii and Indiana. I knew Pacific Islanders and Indianans in the Army, where everybody insulted everybody. It was part of the culture. In civilian life, those same remarks are ethnic insults, often leading to fights, or riots if behind prison walls.  

Watonga is county seat for Blaine County. Since the 2010 Census, the county population dropped 20.6 percent, around 2,500 people. In Blaine County, there are 125 adult men for every 100 women 18 or older.

Greenfield, Oklahoma

Greenfield is in Blaine County, in West Central Oklahoma. The 2010 population was 93. Greenfield’s largest population was 303, in 1940.

The population is 88.6% white, 9.8% Native American, and 1.6% African-American. Twenty percent of families and 18% of the total population lives below the official Federal poverty line.

Greenfield was established on April 19, 1892, when the Cheyenne-Arapaho reservation was opened to non-Indian settlement, part of the Federal government’s plan of allotting a specific number of acres to each Indian family, in order to make farmers of the former Plains buffalo hunters. When the requisite number of acres were allocated, many millions were left over, and designated open for non-Indian usage.

Within a few years, the town had two hardware stores, four general merchandise stores, garages, filling stations, cafés, a cotton gin, an elevator, and a bank. “In 1908 in anticipation of an oil boom, several other businesses opened, including a hotel, a general store, a pool hall, and a butcher shop. Settlers organized Baptist, Nazarene, and Presbyterian congregations.”

https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=GR023

The old high school is pictured here:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Greenfield,+OK+73043/@35.7286572,-98.3778459,3a,75y,90t/data=!3m8!1e2!3m6!1sAF1QipNwuOlVgxUnEGDqiGW5uZcFd04cfYtVaNJM3W9T!2e10!3e12!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipNwuOlVgxUnEGDqiGW5uZcFd04cfYt VaNJM3W9T%3Dw114-h86-k-no!7i4608!8i3456!4m5!3m4!1s0x87ae7b94803f6339:0xe6d34e8a3cdf3482!8m2!3d35.7286572!4d-98.3778459

Left of the school is an underground concrete storm shelter with two entries. The shelter is not visible in the above-linked photograph, but is visible if you want to do a search on Greenfield. In fact, there are photographs containing several old, empty houses and buildings available with a Greenfield search.

The North Canadian River is a few miles west of town.

Greenfield, Oklahoma

Here is a link to a satellite photo of the Greenfield area:

https://www.google.com/maps/@35.7288161,-98.4718936,19679m/data=!3m1!1e3

Those white dots are oil fields.

Greenfield is the only town in the picture. At the 2010 census, the town’s population was 93. The highest population was 303 in 1940. The racial makeup of Greenfield in 2000 was 88.6% white; 9.7% Native American; and 1.6% African American. Twenty percent of families and 17.6% of the overall population lived below the poverty line.

Greenfield was established April 19, 1892, “when the Cheyenne-Arapaho Reservation was opened for non-Indian occupation.”

http://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=GR023

That same entry says Greenfield serves “as a ‘bedroom’ community.”

Last January, the “partially burned body” of a 30-year-old mother of four, was found in an open field west of Greenfield. The woman’s father found the body during a search by family members worried about her safety. The woman’s 35-year-old boyfriend was later questioned at a hospital emergency room. Police said the boyfriend had been in an altercation with several of the dead woman’s family members after the body was found. Police said the man’s hands had been burned. After an investigation lasting several days, the boyfriend was charged with murdering the woman. The boyfriend told police he was angry because the woman had gone out with another man.

The whole story here: https://www.thewatongarepublican.com/articles/2017/01/09/local-woman-found-dead-greenfield-boyfriend-charged-first-degree-murder

Okeene, Oklahoma

Must be a keen place, Oklahoma. Some parts are OK. Yeah, a lot of puns in those sentences.

I will say this for Oklahoma: Sometimes it’s as close to Texas as can be, and I don’t mean just because it sits north of the Red River.

Okeene is in Blaine County, three counties east of the Texas Panhandle. In case you were wondering, Keene is Out There – 23 miles north of Watonga; 20 miles southeast of Fairview; 24 miles west of Hennessey; and 17 miles west of Canton. So, if you are in Okeene, it’s because you want to be. Lot of places in Oklahoma and Texas like that. Lot of people journeyed to Oklahoma and Texas, seeking fortune, leaving fame or infamy back where they came from. Some wound up with different names, too. Their last name back home might be recognized by somebody who wore a star pinned to his shirt. Sometimes, too, the new arrivals took the last name of someone well known in the new area. There wasn’t necessarily any claim to kinship, but if people wanted to think so …

Okeene’s 2010 population was 1,204. Its highest ever population was 1,601, in 1980. According to the 2000 census, 97.34 percent of the people were white.

Blaine County’s 2010 population was 9,785.

In the Okeene Zip Code, 98 percent of the people live in housing units, with the remaining 2 percent (36) in nursing facilities. Interestingly, a plurality of houses were built before 1940. Forty-five percent of the population works full time; 26 percent work part time; and 29 percent report no earnings.

Here is a link to a satellite image covering a large area around Okeene:

https://www.google.com/maps/@36.1008943,-98.5803963,78347m/data=!3m1!1e3

Greenfield, Okla., population drop

Greenfield is in southern Blaine County, in West Central Oklahoma. Census numbers in 2000 showed 123 people. By 2010, that number had dropped by 30. The town’s all-time high was 233 in 1980.

2000 census shows 88.2% residents were White; 9.76% Native American; and 1.63% African-American. Twenty percent of families and 17.6% of total population lived below the poverty line.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenfield,_Oklahoma

Hometown Locator says the July 1, 2016, population was 119. Greenfield has 71 housing units -- 46 owner-occupied, 8 renter-occupied, and 16 vacant. Average household size was 2.2, average family size at 3. In Oklahoma’s 632 ZIP codes, Greenfield’s 73043 ranks 596 in population.

Here is a satellite photograph: https://www.google.com/maps/@35.7304484,-98.3888596,4936m/data=!3m1!1e3

A few miles outside town there are quite a few oil wells.

Southard, Oklahoma, Zip Code 73770

Southard is an unincorporated community in Blaine County, in West Central Oklahoma. Southard’s elevation is 1,545 feet. Blaine County’s 2010 population was 9,785. The county has a land area of 928 square miles.

Clarence Nash, the voice of Donald Duck was born in Blaine County. Nash also voiced Daisy Duck, and Donald’s nephews, Huey, Dewey and Louie.

(Opinion: Walt Disney built what is now a multi-billion-dollar entertainment group, with sissy Mickey Mouse as icon. I never liked Mickey, although I never missed an episode of The Mickey Mouse Club in the late 1950s. Sure, as an almost teenage boy, I liked the girls. I liked the show Spin and Marty, too, and one that starred (I think) Darlene as a sheriff’s daughter and Earl Holliman as a misunderstood young man. I like Donald Duck. He is headstrong, temperamental, and loyal to Daisy and to his nephews. End of opinion.)

According to zipdatamaps.com, Southard’s population is 9, with 87.5% men and 12.5% women. The site says everybody in Southard is white. Average real estate asking price is $169,485, while the average sale price is $56,304. I don’t believe those real estate numbers.

Coldwell Banker says the population is 5. The median household income is $0. Sixty-seven percent of the residents are marred, and 50% are families with children. The median age of Southard homes is 60 years, with all owned, none rented and all occupied.

http://oklahoma.hometownlocator.com/zip-codes/data,zipcode,73770.cfm says Southard has one business address and eight single family addresses. That site gives the population as 14. The site also claims that of the 11 total housing units, five are owner-occupied, one is rented and five are vacant. Coldwell Banker and Hometown Locator must be looking at some awfully disparate Census reports.

U.S. Gypsum Co. is located on Highway 51A in Southard.

http://www.wetakesection8.com/search/OK/southard/ says Southard has no Section 8 housing.

No psychotherapists, psychiatrists, internet companies, cable or satellite TV companies, either.