Kelley School

Traveling north out of Barnsdall I turn west onto the County Road 2401 in search of three sets of steps located about 4.5 miles north of town which at one time were part of the Kelley School. With information in hand on their location, I travel north along CR 2401 until I reach the top of a hill where the road turns to the east. It was near this point that I was to see the set of steps on the east side of the road about 30 yards into the brush and trees. Moving at what seemed to be a turtles pace with my eyes cutting through the brush, I spot a pile of small sandstones stacked on top of each other. With the vegetation surrounding the area it was hard to say if it was a set of steps or not, let alone three sets of them. Not sure if this was what I looked for, I kept traveling along the road until I turned right onto a lease road where there were foundations jutting up through the tall grass and brush. It was my assumption this was the Barnsdall Oil Company  #285 Lease Camp that  sat north of Barnsdall.

Barnsdall Oil Company Lease Camp #285. Fred Goughler, fifth from the left and his crew at the camp. Fred, like many of the men lived in the company homes around the lease.

Water tower cooling basin. Most likely the one shown in the Barnsdall Oil Co. Lease photo above.

As I parked my vehicle, I scanned the area and with camera in hand and set off through the area snapping off photos. Walking through the foundations, I walked west to the edge of the lease and came upon an old fence which had fell down and small narrow sidewalk.

The sidewalk was near two feet wide went along for about 80 feet until it came to the main sidewalk and steps

At the end of the sidewalk and just to the right stood a set of steps which could clearly be seen as I walked towards them. There was no doubt that this was what I was looking for to begin with. Snapping off a few more photos, I looked for the two other sets of steps and found them north of the main steps.

Main steps to the Kelley School

The sets of two steps was what I was interested in. It was there that a photo was taken in 1933 of the schools students. Walking up to the top of the main steps I surveyed the area to the north and spotted the other steps. It was then that I could see how small the school really was and in that area which I looked over, there sat a two room building that would house around 40 people.

Northwest steps

Northeast steps

Student body of the Kelly School. Photographed on the north side of the school between the set of two steps.

According to Fred Goughler, his dad Lawrence, aunt Ester, Dub Jones and Everett Swalley are in the photo. The school housed the 1st to 6th grade, after which, students would attend the Barnsdall School. 

If others can be identified, contact the Barnsdall Oklahoma History page on Facebook or through a reply message on this blog site.