Agawam, Oklahoma | |
---|---|
![]() Old Houses at Agawam in March 2025 | |
Coordinates: 34°52′24″N97°56′46″W / 34.87333°N 97.94611°W | |
Country | United States |
State | Oklahoma |
County | Grady |
Elevation | 1,240 ft (380 m) |
Population (1960) | |
• Total | 35 [2] |
Time zone | UTC-6 (Central (CST)) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC-5 (CDT) |
GNIS feature ID | 1093811 [1] |
Agawam is a ghost town in Grady County, Oklahoma.
Agawam is located adjacent to US Highway 81, [3] near the junction with County Road 1490. [4]
Agawam was founded around 1909, when its post office was built. [5] Agawam was named after a Native American village in New England. [6] The community was located on the main line of the Rock Island Railroad. [7]
On 19 October 1915, two Rock Island Railroad trains collided head-on here, a southbound passenger train and a northbound freight train, resulting in seven fatalities and numerous injuries; engineer William Powell was blamed for the accident. [8] The Agawam post office closed in 1918. [5]
In October 1922, it was announced that Agawam, located on the main line of the Rock Island Railroad, would become a shipping point for a gas field in Grady County, due to its location: four miles from the Oklahoma Gas Company's pumping station. [7] Agawam was described as a "new oil town" in 1923, when an auction of town lots was held. [9]
A gymnasium was completed in 1935. In 1955, Agawam had a grade school with a "small enrollment", but it was large enough to field a very good girls' basketball team that, over the course of three years, had amassed 90 wins against four losses, despite usually only having seven players. [10]