Historic Tulsa

Later, Spybuck’s son-in-law, Dick Tinker,
converted the house into the Tinker Hotel.
The origin of Sperry’s name is unclear. One
story is that it is an Anglicized version of
Henry Spybuck’s name.
The first free public school in Sperry
opened in a two-story brick building in 1911.
In 1913, J. D. Winters established the State
Guaranty Bank in a one-room frame building.
Sperry was incorporated on March 3,
1917. A. L. Buck was the first mayor. Howard
Wickersham the first marshal.
Sperry was filled with roustabouts and
roughnecks after the oil strike. However,
agriculture was also big business. There were
many cattle ranches and cotton farms in
the area.
In the twenty-first century, Sperry remains
a preserved piece of Americana. Century old
brick store fronts line Main Street. The town’s
unique appearance has attracted the attention
of filmmakers. Parts of the town were used in
Francis Ford Coppola’s movie, The Outsiders.
TURLEY
Turley is one of Oklahoma’s oldest
communities. The settlement sprang up during
cattle drive days in 1834. The first town of
Turley was located one mile north and one mile
east of the present town. A post office in the
community, five miles north of Tulsa, opened on
January 13, 1897. The town was named for
James Turley, co-owner of a general store. Turley
was bought out by his partner, A. L. Daum, who
served as the postmaster until his death in 1903.
When rumors circulated that the Midland
Valley Railroad would be built nearby, Daum’s
store and post office were moved to a location
one half mile north of present Turley. When
the railroad was completed, H. L. Buck
relocated the town to its present site.
The thirty-acre townsite was platted in 1906
by Manuel Hirsch and H. F. Abby of the Turley
Improvement Company. The Turley Lumber
Company built the first commercial building. A
general store and a blacksmith shop moved
from the town’s former location. A two-story
school was built in 1907 at what is now
Sixtieth Street and North Peoria Avenue.
Excellent farmland had attracted original
settlers of Turley, but soon farming gave way to
the oil industry. The town was in the heart of the
Bird Creek field. The first well, a dry hole, was
drilled on Delaware Creek northwest of Turley.
The first permanent school house in Turley
was a one-room brick building constructed in
1908. As new residents arrived, the school was
replaced in 1912 by a four-room brick building.
The Turley post office remained opened
until August 23, 1957, when it was
consolidated with the Tulsa post office.
✧
Collinsville’s Main Street in 1990.
CHAPTER VII
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