Wilburton – named after either Will Burton, a surveyor who plotted land in this area in 1890 for The Choctaw Railroad

or after Elisha Wilbur, president of Lehigh Valley Railway and one of the first men to buy stock in

Choctaw Coal and Railroad Company.

1896 -- Wilburton took off population wise – by the 1900 census 19 languages were spoken in the Wilburton area.

Sam Givens General Store:  reportedly first rock building in Latimer County. 

 First floor was the store and upstairs was lodging.  Now the Picture Show.

1898 – 2 semiprofessional baseball teams, 1 white and 1 black, called “Blues”

1905 – Great Western Coke & Coal Company building by Col. William Busby – “Old Courthouse”

1900 – Miner’s & Merchant’s Bank opened by Mr. J. Poe – sold in 1903 and became

the First National Bank – later became Citizen’s Bank, then “Talbot’s” – later was a hotel.

1902 – Wilburton incorporated as a city.

1904 – Katy Railroad ran a line through Wilburton.

1904 – May 10 – sale of lots in city.

1903 – first telephone system, consisted of 40 phones.

133 men die in mining accidents while only 85 have died in foreign wars.

1905 -- Degnan Mine #9 – 13 fatalities

1910 – Busby #2 – 6 fatalities

1916 – Degnan#5 – 3 fatalities

1918 – Lutie #4 – 2 fatalities

1920 – Degnan #5 – 3 fatalities (flood not explosion)

1920 – Degnan #19 – 91 fatalities

1930 – Lutie #5 – 15 fatalities

1906 -- 442,000 tons of coal excavated from Latimer County – more than any other county in Coal Belt.

1907 – November 16 – county named for Representative J.S. Latimer.

1908 – April 14, “The Picture Show” building became the county jail for 22 months.

1910 – October 1 – first Motor vehicle accident. J Poe’s crank on his car kicked back and broke his arm.

1911 – new school house on top of North Hill – built at a cost of $40,000.

1912 – October 24 – deposits at First National Bank short by $65,000.  cashier by name of Lusk

stole it and reportedly built his home, now the “Windsong Inn” – Latimer County National Bank

 bailed them out. Mr. Lusk had to sell his home and got $5,000 for it.

1914 – fire destroyed Givens Hotel and Wilburton News – approximate site of Bumper-to-Bumper

 to empty lot next to Latimer County Home Health.

1915 – first City Park – park across from “Old Courthouse” – the city band played – 20^th Century Club

was responsible.

1915 – July 25 – Great Western Coke & Oil Company building was purchased by Latimer County for $10,000. 

The brick building behind the new courthouse became the jail.

1916 – the first ballpark – Degnan Park – donated by James McConnell – raised $600 to fix it. 

Southwest of Railroad Depot.

1918 – Patterson Powder Mill exploded – was located 7 miles west of town.

1919-1929 No picture shows allowed on Sundays.

1927 – November.  Fire destroyed or damaged several buildings on north side of East 100 block of Main Street–

Baer Store, Craig building, Knight Insurance.  Dr. Coleman, a dentist, had an office in Rosenstein building. 

 His friends moved all his equipment out of the building fearing it would be destroyed.  The operators

 for the phone system were also in the building.  Their supervisor called for a new switchboard as

he thought it would be destroyed in the fire.  The fireman saved the building now “Coles General Store”.

1928 – January 23.  fire started at Chilli Inn (restaurant) and spread into the east and west sides

of the south side of East 100 block.  The Eatmor Café, American Café, Chilli Inn were

all destroyed but Cook Barber Shop was saved.

1931 – Wilburton was known as the “Little Capital of Oklahoma” –

Chief Justice Supreme Court (Eugene Lester), Speaker of the House(Carlton Weaver),

 President of the Senate(Chad Briggs) and a member of Industrial Commission

(Matt McElroy) all hailed from Wilburton.

1938 – Red Oak wanted the County Seat and the governor called for a special election. 

 Wilburton stayed the county seat.

1939 – The new “Courthouse” was finished and the “Old Courthouse” was sold at auction for $1285.

1935 – Robber’s Cave State Park established.

1940 – American Theater was renamed “The Latimer”.

1949 – Business and Professional Women paid for concrete street markers throughout town.

1953 – Wilburton got dial phones.  700 phones

1953 – Mayor Donathan had promised during his campaign he would get Wilburton paved streets. 

 In conjunction with Oklahoma Highway Department (they were in the area paving from

Wilburton to Robber’s Cave State Park) and Lion’s Club, Wilburton citizens could get a 18 foot

wide street in front of their house for 50 cents a foot.

1958 – Metropolitan phone system.  Prefix was “Howard 5”- still is 465.

1958 – November.  Highway 2 North was dedicated.

1960 – Wilburton State Bank moved to their present location.

1960 – May 5.  Tornado ripped through Wilburton.  11 killed, over 100 injured. 

 Damaged 5 blocks of homes and 2 blocks of Main Street.  82 homes demolished,

34 heavily damaged, and 122 homes suffered slight damage.  22 businesses destroyed,

12 heavily damaged and 41 sustained minor damage.  It rained approximately 9 inches during the tornado.

1964 – Turner Motor Company burned.  Fire reportedly started by lightning.

1968 – April.  A tornado struck northwest section of town.

1969 – Charles Golightly became the new owner and operator of Hunter Drug.

1975 – December 5.  A tornado hit EOSC, damaging the gym, student union, and library before moving

Northeast, causing further damage to the Community Care Nursing Home and Catholic Church.

1978 – Sharpe’s opened in the building formerly housing Western Auto.

1981 – Mike’s Gas House at West 3^rd and Main closed.

1983 – October 10.  Fire damaged or destroyed 8 businesses on the north side of West 100 block of Main Street.

  Golightly Rexall Drug, Daylight Donuts, Tom Pate Enterprises, and Eve’s Coverups were destroyed. 

 Damaged were Foster’s Barber Shop, Unique Hair Style, and George Kennedy Realty.

1990 – Fire destroyed Fern’s, which reportedly had been a local opera house but had been the

 home of Roy’s Cardinal Grocery prior to moving to it’s present location.