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History · Medicine Park

Medicine Park’s post office opened in 1908, and 19% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Medicine Park Hotel and Annex. Below: maps from 1949 on and the census since 1970.

1908first post office
1on the National Register
19%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Medicine Park began

When was Medicine Park founded?

1908

The Medicine Park post office opened in 1908, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 483 in 19702020 census: 411118 years
Founding year: the first Medicine Park post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Medicine Park’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Medicine Park are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Medicine Park’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Medicine Park’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story

How Medicine Park came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Medicine Park.

Read it all →

Medicine Park was founded on July 4, 1908, by Elmer Thomas, a young lawyer who had just become a member of the Oklahoma State Senate and would end his career in 1951 as a U.S. senator.

In the spring of 1906, five years after the establishment of the Wichita Mountains National Forest, Elmer Thomas envisioned the need not only for a recreational area but for a permanent water source for the newly founded nearby city of Lawton.

When the resort first opened, it consisted merely of a large surplus Army tent with a wooden floor where hot meals were served. Two dams were constructed on Medicine Creek to form Bath Lake Swimming Hole, and a limited number of campsites were constructed.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Medicine Park, 1908 to 1949

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 20th century
  2. 1908Post officeThe Medicine Park post office opens
  3. 1921Born hereCharles Chibitty is born here
  4. 1949On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Medicine Park, decade by decade

Today12 recent
View of Wichita Wildlife Refuge from beside Old Plantation Cafe2018View of Wichita Wildlife Refuge from beside Old Plant…Medicine Park, Okla. Archway Sign2013Medicine Park, Okla. Archway SignMedicine Creek Bridge at Medicine Park, Okla2013Medicine Creek Bridge at Medicine Park, OklaFishing, kayaking at Medicine Park, OK IMG 69952013Fishing, kayaking at Medicine Park, OK IMG 6995Buffalo Sculpture2013Buffalo SculptureMedicine Park Hotel and Annex 2012-09-22 13-36-042012Medicine Park Hotel and Annex 2012-09-22 13-36-0420120106-OC-AMW-0328200920120106-OC-AMW-0328150th Anniversary of U S Department of Agriculture-Historical imagery (20120105-OC-AMW-0453)2009150th Anniversary of U S Department of Agriculture-Hi…150th Anniversary of U S Department of Agriculture-Historical imagery (20120105-OC-AMW-0452)2009150th Anniversary of U S Department of Agriculture-Hi…150th Anniversary of U S Department of Agriculture-Historical imagery (20120105-OC-AMW-0449)2009150th Anniversary of U S Department of Agriculture-Hi…Wichita Mountains Byway - Wichita Mountains Community Directional Sign2008Wichita Mountains Byway - Wichita Mountains Community…MPhotelKey2008MPhotelKey
On the map

Medicine Park on the map, 1949 to 1991

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Medicine Park. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Medicine Park on the 1949 USGS mapMedicine Park on the 1956 USGS mapMedicine Park on the 1970 USGS mapMedicine Park on the 1991 USGS map1949Mount Scott sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Medicine Park.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Medicine Park

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts
first listed
1979
Medicine Park Hotel and Annex
Medicine Park Hotel and Annex
Buildings
Medicine Park Hotel and AnnexBuilding

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

People over time

Medicine Park, census by census

0100200300400500198020002020Peak: 483

Between 285 and 483 people in every census since 1970.

6 censuses, 1970–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Medicine Park’s Wikipedia page.

Places that used to be

Old corners

Medicine Park’s post office has been open since 1908.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Duhringe Pass

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about Medicine Park’s history

What year was Medicine Park founded?

The Medicine Park post office opened in 1908, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Medicine Park?

One place: the Medicine Park Hotel and Annex (listed 1979).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (12), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.