The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture

KENDRICK.

Located in northeastern Lincoln County, Kendrick is situated between County Roads E0850/N3490 and E0850/N3500, approximately two miles north of Interstate Highway 44 and eight miles due northeast of Chandler, the county seat. Uriah C. Guss and William H. Coyle, Guthrie business leaders, negotiated the purchase of land for the townsite. A plat was filed in the Chandler courthouse on November 12, 1902, and town lots were sold beginning two days later. Free lots were offered to business owners in Parkland, located northwest of Kendrick. A post office established on October 13, 1902, was originally called Avondale but was renamed Kendrick in honor of a railroad executive on January 21, 1903. Joseph C. Pringey served as the first postmaster. The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway provided passenger and freight service to Kendrick by late 1903. That same year a cotton gin was moved from Parkland to Kendrick. A bank was one of the first buildings erected on the townsite, and a school was built in 1905. Early-day newspapers included the Kendrick Dispatch, the Kendrick Review, and the Kendrick News.

A Baptist church was erected circa 1911–12. By 1918 Kendrick also had Methodist and Christian churches. The town supported a general store, a hardware store, and a hotel. The first federal census for Kendrick indicated a population of 255 in 1920. The population peaked at 270 in 1930 and declined to a low of 126 in 1970. Kendrick had 256 inhabitants in 1940, 172 in 1950, 155 in 1960, 132 in 1980, and 171 in 1990. The post office closed in 1983. The school closed the following year, and students were bused to Stroud. At the turn of the twenty-first century Kendrick, with a population of 138, served as a "bedroom" community. The 2010 census counted 139 residents. The April 2020 census reported 90.

Linda D. Wilson