Oklahoma Railway Company

In the early half of the 20th century, central Oklahoma had a public transportation system unusually elaborate for its size and population.  The Oklahoma Railway Company was not the first in the area, but acquired existing electric railway lines and linked them together into a larger trolley system.

Oklahoma City.  The Metropolitan Railway Co. was chartered in 1902 and quickly built a loop around the downtown area and four outward spokes.  In 1904, the Oklahoma City Railway Company, a subsidiary of the Oklahoma Railway Company, succeeded the Metropolitan. When the system outgrew the city's power capacity, the company built its own power plant (Belle Isle).  By 1909, the network included 32 miles of track and the northern spoke reached to Britton.  In 1910, ORC acquired the lines of the Oklahoma City & Suburban Railway Company (whose earlier history I have not yet found).  As a result, all parts of the city were served by a single system.

Eventually, the Interurban lines linked OKC with 

• Putnam City, Bethany, Yukon and  El Reno to the west

• Moore and Norman to the south

• Nichols Hills, Britton, Edmond and Guthrie to the north

To be continued....