Jay

History

Jay was named for Jay Washbourne, a nephew of Stand Watie and grandson of an early-day Cherokee missionary. The town is the county seat of Delaware County, having won that distinction from Grove, Oklahoma in a special county seat election on December 8, 1908. The 1910–11 Legislature made Grove a County Court Town, and provided for two court terms each year. On June 27, 1911, the Supreme Court of Oklahoma ruled in favor of Jay, and on January 5, 1912, the County Commissioners ordered the records to be moved to Jay. On May 10, 1913, the courthouse in Jay was burned, destroying most of the county records. The post office was established May 19, 1909. Jay incorporated in 1939.

Geography

Jay is located in the oak and hickory forests of the Ozark Plateau. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all land. The Cherokee name for Jay is Dlaygvi (Bluejay Place). Jay is at the intersection of U.S. Route 59 and Oklahoma State Highway 20, southeast of Grand Lake of the Cherokees and northeast of Lake Eucha. Jay is atypical in Oklahoma history because the townsite and layout were located and platted specifically for its purpose as a county seat. It is not located on a river, major road or railway line as were most Oklahoma towns of the late 1800s and early 1900s. Around 1908, the Delaware County Improvement Association hired a survey team to pinpoint the exact location of the center of the county. They pinpointed allotment land belonging to Thomas Oochaleta, a full-blood Cherokee. Since acquiring title to a full-blood's allotment would require a lengthy federal legal procedure, the committee shifted their attention to the allotment adjoining Oochaleta's on the east, a parcel belonging to committee member Claude L. "Jay" Washbourne. As a mixed-blood Cherokee, Washbourne was exempt from the federal policy restricting the sale or transfer of his land. He gave ten acres on which to construct a town. The town was designed, reserving a central block for a courthouse. The committee quickly constructed a frame building and then applied to the U.S. Postal Service for a post office, submitting the required three town names for consideration. The names submitted were "Center," "Jay," and "Washbourne." Postal authorities chose Jay for its brevity.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  605
• Carolina Chickadee

  Poecile carolinensis (Audubon, 1834) · Aves
  488
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  473
• Tufted Titmouse

  Baeolophus bicolor (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  466
• Carolina Wren

  Thryothorus ludovicianus (Latham, 1790) · Aves
  462
• Turkey Vulture

  Cathartes aura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  447
• Red-bellied Woodpecker

  Melanerpes carolinus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  437
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  404

Most recent

• M 2.82 — 2024-03-23
  9 km SE of Foyil, Oklahoma
• M 2.7 — 2018-12-10
  1 km ENE of Zeb, Oklahoma
• M 2.7 — 2016-04-03
  Arkansas-Oklahoma border region
• M 2.7 — 2016-01-14
  7 km W of Talala, Oklahoma
• M 2.6 — 2010-05-21
  2 km SW of Centerton, Arkansas
• M 2.5 — 2010-04-29
  3 km SW of Centerton, Arkansas