Editing Devol, Oklahoma (section)

==History==
The community of Devol began in 1907, when the [[Wichita Falls and Northwestern Railway]] laid tracks through the area. A post office was established there on November 30, 1907. The railroad became a subsidiary of the [[Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad]] (MK&T or Katy) in 1911. By that year, the town had about 400 residents.<ref name="EOHC-Devol"/>

Discovery of the nearby Burkburnett Oil Field in 1918 initiated a brief boom in Devol. At least two refineries were built in the area, along with several oil pipelines. The 1920 census showed the population was 1,936. The town had the first dynamo in the area used for power in one of the two dance halls. Devol is said to have had four churches, a lumber store, feed store, a hotel, two dance halls/bars, a brothel and hundreds of small structures to rent as a home during the growing Burk boom.  However, the boom ended in 1922, and most of the people related to that business moved away. The town bank failed in 1927. In 1930, the population of Devol was only 328. The 1940 census showed 208 residents.<ref name="EOHC-Devol"/>

Devol continued to shrink after World War II. Only 152 residents remained in 1950. The high school closed in 1953, and in 1957, all grades were consolidated along with those of [[Randlett, Oklahoma|Randlett]] and [[Union Valley, Oklahoma|Union Valley]] to form the Big Pasture School District in Randlett. In 1959 a tornado damaged most of Devol's business district (all three on the main street) and the old high school building. The town's population reached 117, the lowest recorded in its history until the 2020 census. The MK&T abandoned its tracks in 1972, and in the 1980s the only remaining business was a tack shop that specialized in making race horse saddles. It closed in the 1990s.{{Citation needed|date=January 2023}}

The only business in Devol proper is the Helena Chemical Company, formerly M&E Soil Service, who employs two people. The post office had been threatened with closure in 1997 and 2002, and now operates limited weekly hours. However, a handful of casinos employ hundreds of employees southwest of the town near the Texas border {{Citation needed|date=June 2024}}