Fleetwood School Bell - Terral, OK
N 33° 53.796 W 097° 56.147
14S E 598399 N 3751200
The old Fleetwood school bell stands in front of the Terral Community Center, donated in memory of Alfred J. Croy. The community center is on Apache Road, between 4th and 5th Streets.
Waymark Code: WMR8D6
Location: Oklahoma, United States
Date Posted: 05/26/2016
Views: 1
Fleetwood is east of Terral, today a ghost town, so this bell is something of a relic. A small, metal plaque wraps around the pole that holds the bell, and it says:
Fleetwood School Bell
donated to the town of Terral
by the Croy Foundation
in memory of
Alfred J. Croy.
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Given that Terral celebrated its one hundredth anniversary in 1992, it is likely that the bell and the memorial were put here to complement a historical marker that the Terral-Fleetwood Centennial Committee also placed at that time:
Terral Indian Territory
Founded May 1892
By
John Heidelberg Dace Terral
Mr. Terral was born August 1st, 1858 in Whitman, Miss. He married Miss Missourie Amanda Dubose in 1876 at Waynesborough, Miss. Nine children were born to this union. The family moved to Texas about 1881 where Mr. Terral farmed, worked in a cotton gin, taught school and served as a missionary to the Indians. In 1891, living in Belcherville, Texas, he heard of the C.R.I.P.R.R.'s plan to run a line from Texas through the Chickasaw Nation Indian Territory. Early in 1892, he moved his family here to an old school building until his home was built in June 1892. Mr. Terral enlisted Hugh Schoolfield of Belcherville to help survey and lay out the townsite. He then got this site deeded to him by Mrs. Houston "Emily" Fleetwood and she insisted the town be named Terral as Fleetwood four miles east was already a town. In May 1892, Terral and Schoolfield had to move shocks of oats to lay out Main Street. Hugh bought the first lot, a corner one, for $200 May 15, 1892. R.E. Schoolfield bought the lot west of this lot for $150. These two men erected the first building, the U.S. Post Office was approved July 28, 1892 and officially opened August 8, 1892 with Mr. Terral as postmaster.
Mr. Terral gave right of way to the railroad line and station in exchange for excursion rates to draw people to Terral. In September 1895 the first train ran through this pioneer town. He made many trips to Washington D.C., Tishomingo, capital of the Chickasaw Nation, surrounding towns and cities to interest people in Terral. He built and operated the first hotel here and the first real estate office. Mr. Terral left here in 1899 for western Indian Territory where he helped to found Lone Wolf in 1901 and Cold Springs in 1903. He moved to Colorado in 1911 and helped to build Springfield. The last move of the old pioneer was to New Mexico in 1920 where he organized churches in Mills, Roy and Las Vegas. He died October 2, 1922 and was buried there in the Masonic Cemetary.
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The remains of Fleetwood are reached a few miles east of here, simply by continuing on Apache Road, and there is a historical marker at the school site:
Fleetwood School
Built in 1880's on this site just south of the road. This building served as the school and community church for the Methodist and Baptist.
The school was closed in 1927 as a high school and the students attended the Terral School. The grammar school here closed in 1935.
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