Champlin Park - Enid, OK
Posted by: 
hamquilter
N 36° 23.435 W 097° 53.454
14S E 599467 N 4027842
Named for a successful Enid businessman, Champlin Park is located on Highway 81, route of the Old Chisholm Trail.
Waymark Code: WMDX99
Location: Oklahoma, United States
Date Posted: 03/05/2012
Views: 5
Champlin Park is located on the southwest corner of S. Van Buren (Highway 81) and W. Owen K. Garriott, at the busiest intersection in town.
This is a small park with playground facilities and paved walkways throughout the rolling landscape. The open grassed spaces are often used as practice areas for local sporting groups. There is a picnic shelter on the grounds.
A concrete stone built into the brick building at the northeast corner of the park shows "CHAMPLIN PARK 1943". The building is currently the home of Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP), who provide for the needs of many Enid residents, including the Mobile Meals Program.
The park is named after Herbert H. Champlin (1868 – 1944). According to information given on the Oklahoma Historical Society web page... Champlin, was a banker in Enid in 1916, when he purchased a lapsed oil lease in the new Garber Field, about 15 miles north of Enid. His first well came in on Christmas Day in 1916. He continued to drill more wells and in 1917, purchased a small refinery and established Champlin Refining Company. In order to ensure a good market for his oil, he purchased several small oil companies that operated service stations. By the mid-1920s he was marketing petroleum products in six states.
For many years, the Champlin Refining Company was the nation's largest fully integrated oil company under private ownership. When Herbert Champlin died on April 30, 1944, his company employed more than 800 people in Enid, operated service stations and wholesale outlets in twenty midwestern states, had a strong drilling and production presence in Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado, and New Mexico, and continued a major refining operation supported by one of the largest pipeline complexes in Oklahoma. After going public in the 1950s, the company continued until 1984, when they sold the entire retail operation to American Petrofina, closed the Enid refinery, and ended the Champlin Refining Company's lengthy and significant presence in Oklahoma.