Bristow

History

Bristow began in 1898, when the St. Louis–San Francisco Railway ("SL&SF") built a track between Sapulpa and Oklahoma City. The town was named for Joseph L. Bristow, an Assistant U.S. Postmaster General who later served as a U.S. senator from Kansas. A post office was established April 25, 1898. By the 1900 census, the population was 626. Bristow was originally designated by the statehood constitutional convention as the county seat for Moman County-- later Creek County-- prior to statehood, when the town's population was about 1,134. However, the convention later designated Sapulpa, with the proviso that an election could be held after statehood. The county held such an election on August 20, 1908, amidst arguments that Bristow was more centrally located, but Sapulpa was the center of population in the county. Sapulpa won, setting off a multi-year cycle of petitions, court challenges and new elections. A final vote was held November 20, 1912, and a court conclusively ruled Sapulpa to be the winner on August 13, 1913. The local economy depended heavily on cotton. Bristow had seven cotton gins and two cottonseed oil mills in the early 20th century. Other farms in the surrounding area produced corn, peanuts, potatoes and fruit. Oil and gas were discovered in the area around 1915. The discovery led to the construction of three refineries and four pipeline companies by 1930. The Oklahoma-Southwestern Railway built a short line from a connection with the SL&SF at Bristow through the oilfields to Slick in 1920, but declining oilfield production and other factors lead to abandonment of that trackage in 1930. The peak census population was 6,619 in 1930.

Geography

Bristow is located in northern Oklahoma, just south of the geographic center of Creek County. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and , or 1.66%, is water. |date=August 2010 }}

Race & ethnicity

Largest nearby schools

• EDISON ES
  Elementary · Bristow · 495 students · 17.1:1 ratio
• BRISTOW HS
  High · Bristow · 457 students · 15.2:1 ratio
• BRISTOW MS
  Middle · Bristow · 380 students · 15.2:1 ratio
• COLLINS ES
  Elementary · Bristow · 329 students · 16.4:1 ratio
• DEPEW ES
  Elementary · Depew · 257 students · 19.8:1 ratio
• DEPEW HS
  High · Depew · 112 students · 14:1 ratio
• GYPSY PUBLIC SCHOOL
  Elementary · Depew · 58 students · 11.6:1 ratio