Cisco, Cisco, Cisco, part 17 – Cisco, Oklahoma

:1949 USGS Aerial Photo of Cisco, OK

I’m trying to build the N scale replica of the town of Cisco, Utah circa 1970. Accordingly, it’s my routine to search “Cisco” on the web, but it goes wrong most of the time bothered by “San Francisco” or “Cisco Systems”. Sometimes, “Cisco, Texas” gets in my way. Thus, I was wondering how many “Cisco”s are there in the United States. My recent research during these Stay Home days revealed some of them. Let me introduce these places named Cisco as a sideshow for my Town of Cisco posts.


Cisco, McCurtain, Oklahoma: the post office at Cisco, OK was located near the Texas border, five miles west of Idabel. The leading role of the region was farming and the nearest rail connection was St. Louis - San Francisco Railway at Idabel.


The Cisco Post Office was operated only between May 1913 and July 1916[1]. It was the last new Cisco P.O. to this day in the United States. Roy Columbus Clements(1882 – 1959) was the original postmaster, succeeded by William Henry Hunt(1862 – 1948) in Jan. 1916[2]. After the closure, letters were forwarded to Idabel Post Office.

According to the 1910 Census records, five doors apart from the farmer Roy Clements' dwelling in Township 3 was a salesman Andrew Robert "Andy" Hughes'(1857 – 1940) dwelling. The local newspaper tells us that A. R. Hughes' Store was destroyed by the 1917 tornado[3]. Accordingly, Hughes might establish the store which later became known as the Cisco Store. However, unfortunately, Hughes went bankrupt in 1918.

The said Cisco Store was at the northwest corner of State Hwy 37, formerly Rural Route 1, and Cisco Rd crossroads, and was the landmark of the region[4]. The Store had been operating at least between 1918 and 1961 [5, 6]. "Moreland & Magan" was the official name of the Store in 1919[7]. Lewis Flecher Moreland(1868 ｰ 1935) and George Cicero Magan(1862 ｰ 1941) might be the entrepreneurs. Eventually, it might be J&J Grocery Store operated by JoAnn Scott and Johnna Smith[8].


The Cisco School was operated from 1907, after Oklahoma Statehood, to 1958 at GPS coordinates 33.8884418, -94.9127204 [9, 10, 11, 12]. 1974 USGS map, Texarkana, TX still shows the schoolhouse but does not in 1986 edition.


Today, the skeleton signboard of the Cisco Store only rises at the Cisco Rd crossroads as you can see in the Google maps street view below.

revised, Dec. 23, 2022

[1] Forte, Jim, McCurtain County, Oklahoma Post Offices, Jim Forte Postal History;
[2] Shirk, George H., (1966) The Post offices of Oklahoma, 1907 to 1965, Vol. XLIV, No. 1, The Chronicles of Oklahoma, The Oklahoma historical Society;
[3] Feb. 24, 1917 McCurtain Gazette;
[4] okienarc, (2005) Re: Cleveland Frazier....Kirk / Cisco Township...Where are these located?, Message Boards, ancestry.com;
[5] Aug. 31, 1918 McCurtain Gazette;
[6] Dec. 9, 1961 McCurtain Gazette
[7] Dec. 13, 1919 McCurtain Gazette;
[8] Scott, JoAnn, (2008) Guest Book, BOBBY DEWAYNE SHEPHERD, findagrave.com;
[9] Feature Detail Report for: Cisco School, USGS;
[10] Nov. 18, 1914 McCurtain Gazette
[11] Jun. 28, 1958 McCurtain Gazette
[12] 1956 USGS map, Texarkana, TX

: 1913 Report of Site Location for Cisco Post Office
: Google maps, Cisco, OK

　
筆者がNスケールで復元しようとしているユタ州Ciscoについて調べようとインターネット検索すると、余計なページばかりよく引っ掛かる。最も邪魔なのはSan Francisco、次いで邪魔なのはCisco Systemsに関連するページである。テキサス州にあるCiscoという町に関連するページも結構邪魔だ。一方、お目当てのユタ州Ciscoの町に関連するページなどほとんどない。一体何件の「Cisco」がアメリカにあるのか。古い郵便局一覧を調べてみると、ユタ州Cisco以外に 14カ所ものCisco郵便局があったらしい。どんなところだろう。


Cisco, Oklahoma: 七カ所目のCisco郵便局は、オクラホマ州の南東端に位置するMcCurtain郡の中心都市Idabel郊外に1913年から1916年の間だけ開いていた。正確な所在地は分からなかった。

大地を碁盤目に区切る道路に沿って幾軒かの建物が散在していたことは古い航空写真で分かる。コミュニティの中心であっただろうCisco Schoolは1907年から1958年まで開校していた。校舎は1974年発行の地形図にも表示されている。

Idabelから西に延びる州道37号線とCisco を縦貫するCisco Roadの交差点には1910年代からCisco Storeという商店があり、地域の目印にもなっていた。少なくとも1961年までは営業していたが、現在は看板の骨組みだけが立っている。