Editing Shamrock, Oklahoma (section)

==History==
[[File:Shamrock_OK_1927_Bldg.jpg|thumb|right|Building from 1927, said to be an abandoned auto dealership.<ref name=Legends>{{cite web|url= https://www.legendsofamerica.com/ok-shamrock/ |title= Shamrock – Oil Boom & Bust |publisher=Legends of America|accessdate =July 29, 2020}}</ref>]]
In 1908, James M. Thomas, a native of Shamrock, Illinois, moved to this area and opened a store. He named the post office that he established on July 9, 1910, in honor of his home town. Between 1915 and 1916, the [[Sapulpa and Oil Field Railroad]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://nara.getarchive.net/media/sapulpa-and-oil-field-railroad-spur-to-the-hill-oil-and-gas-company-near-shamrock-0b83f8 | title=Sapulpa and Oil Field Railroad, Spur To The Hill Oil And Gas Company near Shamrock, Creek County, Oklahoma|publisher=U.S. National Archives|accessdate=July 29, 2020}}</ref> (later the [[St. Louis and San Francisco Railway]]) built a line northward from [[Depew, Oklahoma|Depew]] to Shamrock. The railroad bypassed the town by three-fourths of a mile, so the citizens moved their businesses closer to the railroad.<ref name="EOHC-Shamrock"/>  In 1916, the [[Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway]] constructed a line that connected Shamrock and [[Drumright, Oklahoma|Drumright]].  These lines developed Shamrock as a major shipping point for oil field equipment and crude oil. The town adopted an Irish theme, with streets named Tipperary, Dublin, Killarney, Blarney, and Cork.<ref name = "EOHC-Shamrock"/>

Shamrock became quite the oil and gas boomtown when the nearby [[Cushing Oil Field]] began to develop.  Numerous oilfield camps began to spring up in the vicinity, and Shamrock developed a reputation as a bawdy town with saloons, gambling halls, and brothels.<ref name="EOHC-Shamrock"/>  Colorful stories abound.  Two noted oilmen, [[Thomas Baker Slick Sr.|Tom Slick]] and [[Harry Ford Sinclair|Harry Sinclair]], had a few drinks one night and were racing horse teams up and down Shamrock's main street.<ref name=Ghost>{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=fSqmnpHFEF0C&dq=%22sapulpa+and+oil+fields+railroad%22&pg=PP183  | title=Shamrock| year=1977|publisher=Ghost Towns of Oklahoma, John W. Morris, pp. 171-172| isbn=9780806114200|accessdate=October 25, 2021}}</ref>  The Big Six gambling hall had a one-legged fiddle player who was known to take off his wooden leg and use it as a club to keep order in the place.<ref name=Ghost/>  However, the oil boom and its workers started moving to new areas in the mid-1920s, and Shamrock began to shrink.<ref name="EOHC-Shamrock"/>  Still, the town was exciting enough in 1932 to have its bank robbed by [[Pretty Boy Floyd]].<ref name=Legends />

Shamrock at one point had two weekly newspapers.<ref name= "EOHC-Shamrock" />   One was The Shamrock Brogue.<ref name=Brogue>{{cite web|url=https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1477413/ |title=The Shamrock Brogue, Volume 1, Number 1, January 1, 1916|publisher=Oklahoma Historical Society|accessdate=October 18, 2020}}</ref>  The editorial in the first issue dated January 1, 1916, summarized the paper's view and intent:  “Shamrock is on the map to stay and the Brogue is here to boost for the town.  The Brogue will never knock.  The mission of a newspaper is to boost for its own home town first, last and all the time, and that is the program that the Brogue will follow.”<ref name =Brogue />  The other paper was the Shamrock Blarney, first printed on March 9, 1916.<ref name= "EOHC-Shamrock" />  Both papers were succeeded by the Creek County Democrat,<ref name= "EOHC-Shamrock" />  which published to at least January 23, 1930.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/search/#lnd=1&query=%221930%22&offset=2&t=19124 | title=Creek County Democrat, January 23, 1930|publisher=Newspapers.com|accessdate=October 18, 2020}}</ref>

The board of trustees voted to dissolve the town in June 2010.<ref name="TulsaWorld">{{cite web|url=http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/state/creek-county-town-of-shamrock-dissolves-in-debt/article_e7c90e17-a4ab-5e08-8b3f-9d0f4c66dda2.html|publisher=[[Tulsa World]]|accessdate=August 11, 2016|date=September 30, 2013|title=Creek County town of Shamrock dissolves in $60,000 debt}}</ref>