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April 20th, 1911, The Beaver Herald (Beaver, Oklahoma)
Maude O. Thomas, Publisher
Home Creek
Carey Barker and family visited W. R. Barker's Sunday evening.
Mr. Jorden and wife visited Newt Taylor and family Saturday.
Willie Howe and wife and Lawrence Hobbs and wife took dinner with Jim Barker's Sunday.
Claud Haskell and wife and Orvel and Ed Haskell are going to start to Colorado Tuesday.
Walter Busch and family took dinner with Mr. Cunningham's Sunday.
Lucy Wilson visited with her cousin, Elva Barker, a few days last week.
Hello! Busch Chapel, wake up.
Raymond Twentier says he is glad Mrs. Barker sets her hens close to the road. (Someone seems to have had a sense of humor)
Gorden Chamberlain's little boy is very sick at this writing.
While Walter Busch was going home from Mr. Barker's last Saturday his horse threw him off bruising him up pretty bad, but he managed to get home all right. His horse was not accustomed to a saddle.
John and Myrtle Schoonover have returned from a visit back east.
W.B. Barker and son C.B. went to Zelma last week bringing back two jacks, one black one gray. He sold one jack to Mr. Black of the South Flat for $500.
W. H. Barker started to Glazier, Texas, with broomcorn for Mr. Groendyke this week.
J. A. Barker is up and around again doing his work.
Austin Humphrey helped Charles Schoonover fix his well last Thursday.
Chas. Kirky went to Liberal last week for C. C. DeGraw and others after a load of freight.
Truax & Hopkins Undertaking, Hardware & Furniture, Tin Shop
1900's Beaver, Oklahoma
In 1900 the population was 112. The economy of Beaver City and the surrounding area depended on cattle ranching until 1902–03, when the Homestead Act brought farmers, whom ranchers sometimes derided as "pumpkin rollers," to the area. This changed the town's population and commerce. One of the first businesses was the Groves Hotel, later known as the Thompson Hotel. It was built in 1885. In 1891 Carter Tracy moved to Beaver and built a general hardware and implement company. The first newspaper was the Territorial Advocate, established in 1887. Although the name changed to the Herald Democrat, the paper continued to inform the county into the twenty-first century. In 1905 W. T. Quinn established a telephone exchange. The 1910 U.S. Census reported 326 inhabitants.
In the early years of the twentieth century two banks, the Bank of Beaver City and the First National Bank, were established. The Beaver, Meade and Englewood Railroad was built to connect to the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway in Forgan, seven miles to the north. Other new businesses included the OK Barber Shop, the Beaver Cleaners, the Goetzinger Grocery, the Beaver Motor Company, the Home Lumber Company, and a number of saloons and hotels. During the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl the town, as well as the rest of the area, suffered, and the population greatly decreased. The town of Beaver, however, actually grew from 920 in 1920 to 1,028 in 1930. The community then began to expand, with a 1940 population of 1,166 climbing to 2,087 in 1960.
Beaver is located on Beaver River, and began as the location of a fur-trading post in 1879. Its original name was Beaver City, and was planned to be the capital of the short-lived Cimarron Territory. The Federal government never recognized the proposed Territory, but Beaver City remained the center of business and law enforcement for the area. In 1890, the territory was assigned to Oklahoma Territory, and Beaver City became the seat for the entire Oklahoma Panhandle, then known as Seventh County.
Beaver began as a stop on the Jones and Plummer Trail. In 1880, Jim Lane built a house on the south side of Beaver Creek, that also served as a general store, saloon, hotel, and restaurant.The first post office had been established on the north side of the river in 1883. In 1884 Lane moved the post office to his store and became the postmaster. He also added a corral and livery stable to accommodate freighters and cattle drivers. The Presbyterian Church was built in 1887. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as ""the oldest church in Oklahoma Territory".
Between Beaver and Guymon Oklahoma along Beaver Creek there are several plains Indians ruins. They are on private property and not accessible to the public. These ruins are associated with the Buried City Plains Indian Ruins near Perryton, Texas.[8] Wikipedia, Beaver, Oklahoma
| Historical population | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Census | Pop. | %± | |
| 1900 | 112 | — | |
| 1910 | 326 | 191.1% | |
| 1920 | 920 | 182.2% | |
| 1930 | 1,028 | 11.7% | |
| 1940 | 1,166 | 13.4% | |
| 1950 | 1,495 | 28.2% | |
| 1960 | 2,087 | 39.6% | |
| 1970 | 1,853 | −11.2% | |
| 1980 | 1,939 | 4.6% | |
| 1990 | 1,584 | −18.3% | |
| 2000 | 1,570 | −0.9% | |
| 2010 | 1,515 | −3.5% | |
| Est. 2014 | 1,470 | [12] | −3.0% |
| U.S. Decennial Census | |||
