Nardin, OK
Posted by: 
hamquilter
N 36° 48.350 W 097° 26.830
14S E 638520 N 4074457
The town of Nardin currently has less than 30 inhabitants, down from 230 nine years ago.
Waymark Code: WM13AH4
Location: Oklahoma, United States
Date Posted: 10/26/2020
Views: 1
Nardin is located in Kay County, on Highway 11, about 8 miles west of Blackwell, and about 13 miles south of the Kansas border. It was first settled in 1898. Today, there are just a handful of residents, holding fast to their heritage. We saw a marble monument celebrating their 100th anniversary in 1998, and there are some building replicas of long-gone businesses. The post office is closed and local residents get their mail from nearby Blackwell.
There are no businesses we could see except a church, and the Farmers Grain Company, which supports the local farm activity and processes grain, fertilizer, feed and seed. Most of the homes are vacant and in disrepair. We saw one very interesting home, however, that is a converted railroad depot.
We found a newspaper article which documents the closing down of the town in December 1990. It reads: "NARDIN The town of Nardin is no more. In less than an hour Saturday, all of the property and items in the town board's possession were sold at public auction. A Kansas man bought the town hall for $1,000, and said he might turn the building, which has no indoor plumbing, into a weekend retreat. The town seal sold for $70, and six boxes of records, some dating back to 1926, brought $80. L.V. Crow, president of a Nardin citizens group, bought the items and says he will display them in Nardin's museum. The auction brought about $3,500, said auctioneer Doyle Steffen of Nardin. The town didn't have a police, fire or street department, so it didn't take long to sell the town board's furniture, a small tractor and attachments and a small riding lawn mower. 'This is the first time we've ever sold a town,' Steffen said."
It's sad to see the death of so many towns in Oklahoma, that once were thriving communities.