The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture

OAK GROVE.

Located in far southeastern Pawnee County, Oak Grove is situated in the west half of the southwest quarter of Section 15, Township 20 North, Range 9 East, about halfway between two branches of Keystone Lake and one-half mile south of the Sand Springs Expressway/U.S. Highways 64/412. In the 1960s, after the construction of Lake Keystone Dam on the Arkansas and Cimarron rivers twenty-three miles west of Tulsa, a rural population developed in the Lake Keystone Peninsula. In 1976 area residents began to consider incorporating their property as various small towns in order to prevent annexation by the town of Westport. Following state law, the citizens of seventeen would-be "towns" filed petitions with the Pawnee County Commission. Each community (most were occupied by only one family) duly held an election on January 15. Thus, on January 15, 1977, the citizens of the Town of Oak Grove voted to become an incorporated entity. The other sixteen elections also resulted in incorporation. Of the seventeen new towns only two, Oak Grove and Mule Barn (1985 to 2008) retained their corporate status for any length of time. According to the U.S. Census, Oak Grove had a population of 20 in 1990, 18 in 2000, and 18 in 2010. The April 2020 census reported Grove, which was no longer incorporated, with population of 22. The area is approximately 1.3 square miles. A bedroom community, Oak Grove supplies workers for nearby larger towns.

Dianna Everett