User:Drbjsb/Navajoe, Oklahoma

Navajoe is a ghost town in Jackson County, Oklahoma. located eight miles east and four miles north of Altus, the county seat. It took its name from the nearby Navajo Mountains, the place where Comanches annilated a band of Navajos who were on a raid to steal Comanche horses.[1][2][3] The town was settled in the mid-1880s, when the area was still claimed as Greer County, Texas. The location was intended to take advantage of its proximity to the nearby Western Cattle Trail and the Indian Reservation at Fort Sill. To trade in the town, the Kiowas came around the north side of the mountains over the Kiowa Trail, and the Comanches came around the south side over the Comanche Trail.[4][5][6] By 1887, more than 200 families had settled in the area, and the town received a post office desinated as "Navajoe" to avoid confusion with Navajo, Arizona.[7][8][9] Navajoe soon became a trade center for the area's settlers, cowhands and Indians. It had grocery stores, hardware stores, saloons, a general store, a blacksmith shop, a confectionery, a dry goods store, a wagon yard, a hotel and a cotton gin. In 1887, a Baptist Church was organized, the first Protestant Church in what would become Oklahoma Territory. In 1888, Navajoe School opened and did not close until 1920, when it was consolidated with Friendship and parts of other nearby school districts.[10][11][12] A typical frontier town, Navajoe had its share of gunfights and outlaw activity. In 1891, a Kiowa uprising, resulting from the killing of one of their chiefs by a cowhand in an argument over beeves, caused area families to seek refuge in the town and a detachment to be dispatched from Fort Sill.[13][14][15] But, in 1902, the railroad bypassed Navajoe, and most of the businesses moved, buildings and all, to the new town of Headrick on the railroad. Today, only a picturesque, well kept cemetery, wjich is still used for burials, remains. A granite monument, erected in its center in 1976, displays a map of the old town and pays tribute to its history. [16][17][18][19] The name of Navajoe, however, lives on. In 1962, the Friendship and Warren school systems joined to build a new school halfway between the two towns. The new school, which graduated its first class in 1964 and still thrives in northeastern Jackson County, was called Navajo—this time without the addition of an "e" to satisfy the postal authorities. [20] 1.^ Old Navajoe, Chronicles of Oklahoma, Volume 24, E. E. Dale (1946) 2.^ The Early Day Friendship Area: Its Settlement and Communities, Friendship History Group (2002) 3.^ History of Friendship, Oklahoma, Verna Biddy Johnson and Don Butler. http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~okfhg/ 4.^ Old Navajoe, Chronicles of Oklahoma, Volume 24, E. E. Dale (1946) 5.^ The Early Day Friendship Area: Its Settlement and Communities, Friendship History Group (2002) 6.^ History of Friendship, Oklahoma, Verna Biddy Johnson and Don Butler. http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~okfhg/ 7.^ Old Navajoe, Chronicles of Oklahoma, Volume 24, E. E. Dale (1946) 8.^ The Early Day Friendship Area: Its Settlement and Communities, Friendship History Group (2002) 9.^ History of Friendship, Oklahoma, Verna Biddy Johnson and Don Butler. http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~okfhg/ 10.^ Old Navajoe, Chronicles of Oklahoma, Volume 24, E. E. Dale (1946) 11.^ The Early Day Friendship Area: Its Settlement and Communities, Friendship History Group (2002) 12.^ History of Friendship, Oklahoma, Verna Biddy Johnson and Don Butler. http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~okfhg/ 13.^ Old Navajoe, Chronicles of Oklahoma, Volume 24, E. E. Dale (1946) 14.^ The Early Day Friendship Area: Its Settlement and Communities, Friendship History Group (2002) 15.^ History of Friendship, Oklahoma, Verna Biddy Johnson and Don Butler. http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~okfhg/ 16.^ Old Navajoe, Chronicles of Oklahoma, Volume 24, E. E. Dale (1946) 17.^ The Early Day Friendship Area: Its Settlement and Communities, Friendship History Group (2002) 18.^ History of Friendship, Oklahoma, Verna Biddy Johnson and Don Butler.http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~okfhg/ 19.^ A Postscript to Old Navajoe, Prairie Lore, Volume 48, No. 1, Don Butler (2011) 20.^ A Postscript to Old Navajoe, Prairie Lore, Volume 48, No. 1, Don Butler (2011)