Ringling Road Station 15 - Ardmore, OK
N 34° 10.582 W 097° 07.627
14S E 672610 N 3783296
A barely legible ghost sign above the three upstairs windows of the main façade of the old Ringling Road Station notes its original function. Owned by the City of Ardmore and leased to a VFW post, it is at 301 N Washington St, Ardmore, OK.
Waymark Code: WMW2NM
Location: Oklahoma, United States
Date Posted: 07/02/2017
Views: 1
The faded black letters on white paint say "Ringling Road Station 15". This old depot was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982, and their
nomination form explains why this old depot is extra special, with its ties to John Ringling:
The Ringling Road Depot in Ardmore is significant because it is the only building in Oklahoma directly associated with John Ringling of Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus.
John Ringling's railroad building efforts led directly to the establishment of three towns in southern Oklahoma: Ringling, Wilson, and Healdton, as well as the Healdton oil field.
Ringling and the city of Ardmore built this depot in 1915 with Ringling's Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Pacific Railroad Company. Construction of a line west from Ardmore had been begun in 1913 and was supposed to reach Lawton, Oklahoma. By the time builders finished the depot, the line extended 25 miles to the west, the present site of Ringling, Oklahoma. The depot built there no longer exists.
The Ringling Road never extended further west than Ringling because of the discovery of oil at Healdton, Oklahoma. The oilfield at Healdton was vital to the Allied effort in World War I. It supplied 50% of all the oil the Allied powers used during the war. The Ringling Road made this output possible.
The Santa Fe Railroad Company purchased the Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Pacific Railroad from Ringling in 1926. Santa Fe used the line until 1976, when they closed the 25-mile stretch.