The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1920-03-26
EARLY DAY HISTORY
OF ORR, OKLAHOMA
(By DOnnell Tanner)

W lSOn, OKLA, March 2b.--Tlera Is
mucb tt,o+ e., ~ t,,,.,o.. g., e.. ,oo
''''' community No"'ec'ed WIZ
the story OF the founding of the lit
tie town Of Orr in the southwest lern
rart of Love county. IL is one of
the Oldest towns in the old Indian
Territory, part Of what is now Okla
homa, if not in the entire state. and
is situated in the heart of one Of the
best agricultural centers in that eoun.
ty.
The story OF the founding Of Orr
was told in Wilson recently by w.
II. Hodges, one OF the original found
crs Of the town. and is as follows:
But it is the best to let MIR. Hodges
tell the story Of the founding in his
own words:
when | first came into the Terri
tory from Cooke county, Texas, in
1857 | settled near where the little
town Of Orr is now located The
country was naturally i'm q very wild
ana unsettled state. there not being
much of any kind Of habitatim About
the only thing of which there was
plenty were the wild deer aud turk.
eys, there were no towns nor cities
within many miles Of us and we did
all our trading AMI got our mail only
by crossing over the line into Texas.
shortly after my arrival Dr. Jerry
Ashley, Bob Smith Dr Eouuuoe,
Joe Mayer Hudd Millsap, Jim Cos
ana myself conceived the idea of
starring town. We all got our
heads together ana result Of the
conference the town of orr was
born We named the place after Old
squire Orr, from Burlington, Texas,
whom many OF the oIdtimer9 i'm this
country VIII remember The mail
now came into orr once "a week, the
carrier coming with it through what
ia now known aus Old Hewitt, and SO
on down to orr.
In the ran of This same year Bob
Smlth and Eud AIlllsap decided that
we were badly in need Of gin and
accordingly erected ono. About the
same tim" that the gin was built
Isaac Losaard started - general store
The opening of This last was follow
ed soon after with the building OF
another gin, some one else opened
% blacksmith shop. u drug store soon
followed this, and then a hardware
store came along
"Ihuf Was the town Of Orr start
I'D. These six or seven men an,
myself were the founders though at
the outset we did not have muef
ido1 that much would eyer come Of
it, but We had lot OF fun anc
pleasure in the doing of it.
"One incident connected with I'll,
founding Of the town afforded all oi
" much amusement This took pac,
at the meeting We had when we drew
mp the petition asking for post
Office. The few inhabitants Wh,
We're present to sign this petition
did not seem TO us to b. enough, g.
We were discussing the question Wher
one Of us nude the remark The dcv
u, We haven't got enough names L
put ON this petition
"Th~t caused some deep thinkina
for a little while, but Or. AsheS
I soon solved the problem 10y suggest
ing that We borrow names for The
petition. This Was done and as ,
| conHrquene" Of the doctor'f timeN
suggestion borrowed names were
r-ed and the petition sent to ia,
proper authorities.
In due time the posioffice wa
arW,.d u.s. and pr. Jim cobb VA
appointed our FIRST postmaster.
'Our first picnic and public gath
srinF Of amy Kind was n'ld In lh'
laII 81 lav' Judge Cornelius Hardy
ara clarence Douglas, Wrll Know
/ men at that time, and remembered
10y Old timers. were invited TO at
| tend. TAey accepted ana maze jh'