Editing Bixby, Oklahoma (section)

==History==
[[Image:Old bridge across Arkansas River.jpg|thumb|left|Adjacent to the new bridge, the old bridge across the Arkansas River serves as a track for joggers.]]<br /> [[Alexander Posey]], a member of the [[Muscogee]] (Creek) Nation, and his family settled in the area now known as Bixby in the late 1800s. He founded a community which was initially known as "Posey on Posey Creek." It included two saloons, a blacksmith shop, and a general store. The town became a government townsite with a post office in 1895. Located in the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, [[Indian Territory]], Bixby was named in honor of Tams Bixby, a chairman of the [[Dawes Commission]].<ref name="EOHC-Bixby">{{Cite web |url=http://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=BI014 |title=Dianna Everett, "Bixby." ''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture''. |access-date=March 5, 2015 |archive-date=April 2, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402094255/http://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=BI014 |url-status=live }}</ref> The original {{convert|80|acre|ha|adj=on}} townsite plat was approved by the Dawes Commission in 1902. Many settlers were attracted to the area by the rich, though sometimes swampy river bottom land. In 1904 the [[Midland Valley Railroad]] named for [[Midland, Arkansas]], laid tracks and built a depot about 1/2 mile north of the original town of Bixby.<ref name="BixbyHistory">{{Cite web |url=http://www.tulsaokhistory.com/cities/bixby.html |title=History of Bixby, Oklahoma |access-date=September 12, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120401012119/http://www.tulsaokhistory.com/cities/bixby.html |archive-date=April 1, 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The railroad created factions that briefly split Bixby into two towns. The new part of town was deliberately surveyed so that the new streets did not align with the existing ones. 

However, businesses in the original town soon moved to the new location and built permanent brick buildings there. Bixby incorporated as an independent, self-governing town in 1906, with a population of 400 and an area of {{convert|160|acre|mi2}}.<ref name="EOHC-Bixby" /> The first mayor, recorder and five aldermen were elected in February 1907. In 1911, a two-story brick schoolhouse was built on Main Street. Bixby Central Elementary is near the original site. A traffic bridge was built over the [[Arkansas River]] in 1911; for a time it was said to be the longest bridge west of the [[Mississippi River]].

Fry, a community located north of the original townsite but later annexed by Bixby, served the surrounding trade area when the only way to get across the Arkansas River was by way of the Shellenberger Ferry. Fry's post office operated from 1896 until 1909.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://cdm15020.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p16063coll1/id/14859|title=Tulsa County Historic Sites :: TULSA AND OKLAHOMA HISTORY COLLECTION|website=cdm15020.contentdm.oclc.org|access-date=December 11, 2019|archive-date=December 11, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191211205818/http://cdm15020.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p16063coll1/id/14859|url-status=dead}}</ref> The ''Bixby Bulletin'', the town's first newspaper, began publication in February 1905. It continued publication until 2005. A second paper, the ''Bixby Journal'' existed only from 1907 until 1910.<ref name="EOHC-Bixby" />

Bixby was impacted and enriched by the discovery of nearby natural gas deposits in 1905-1906 and oil fields in 1913, but farming remained the backbone of the community well into the 20th Century.<ref name="EOHC-Bixby" /> Early farmers focused on production of [[cotton]], [[wheat]] and [[alfalfa]] in the rich river bottom. During the 1930s, truck farming of [[vegetables]] slowly replaced those crops. In 1941, the city became an important regional center for shipping produce by railroads. At that time Bixby was christened with its nickname "The Garden Spot of Oklahoma," a designation still carried on the town seal and public vehicles. [[Cantaloupe]]s, [[potato]]es, [[radish]]es, [[Squash (fruit)|squash]], [[turnip]]s, [[spinach]], and [[sweet corn]] were shipped from Bixby to places across the U.S. In time the majority of the truck farms were converted to the production of [[sod]], typically [[Bermuda grass]], or developed for residential and other purposes. Only a small percentage of Bixby residents now work in [[agriculture]], but the town continues to celebrate its earthy roots annually in June with the "[[Green Corn Festival]]."

Another point of history commemorated by Bixby is a visit to the area in 1832 by the famous American writer [[Washington Irving]]. Irving accompanied a [[United States Army|U.S. Army]] exploration party on an excursion from [[Fort Gibson]] which is in the northern part of [[Fort Gibson, Oklahoma]], west onto the prairie and the lands occupied by the [[Osage Nation|Osage]] and [[Pawnee people|Pawnee]] tribes. He described his adventure in his book ''A Tour on the Prairies'' (1835). He relates camping in a grove of large trees on the banks of the Arkansas River in what is present-day Bixby. The town has honored his visit by creating Washington Irving Park and [[Arboretum]] near the location. The park contains an [[amphitheatre]] stage patterned after the front facade of Irving's home, [[Sunnyside (Tarrytown, New York)|Sunnyside]], in [[Tarrytown, New York]], as well as gates near the park entrance which are replicas of ones at Irving's estate. A bronze statue of Washington Irving sits near the stage. Bixby Middle School drama students present a popular retelling of Irving's "[[The Legend of Sleepy Hollow]]" in the park each October. The park is also the location of the heavily attended "Bixby BBQ & Music Festival" each May and the Bixby "Deutschesfest" in September.

In 2009, [[CNN]] Money.com placed Bixby No. 67 on its list of 100 Best Places to Live.<ref>[https://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bplive/2009/snapshots/PL4006400.html Best Places to Live, CNN Money.com] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100125041029/https://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bplive/2009/snapshots/PL4006400.html |date=January 25, 2010 }}</ref>