Ingalls, OK
Posted by: 
hamquilter
N 36° 06.112 W 096° 52.912
14S E 690669 N 3997324
Ingalls is a ghost town, about 11 miles east of Stillwater. It has a very interesting history.
Waymark Code: WM14MTF
Location: Oklahoma, United States
Date Posted: 07/28/2021
Views: 1
"The ghost town of Ingalls is named for John J. Ingalls, United States senator from Kansas (1873-91). The few remaining buildings are falling into ruins, and the streets are overgrown with grass. Most noticeable of the decrepit relics is the former Trilby Saloon, the interior of which is bullet scarred. The Doolin and Dalton gangs of outlaws sometimes retreated to Ingalls after their raids. Following the attempted robbery of two banks at Coffeyville, Kansas, in 1892, when three of the bandits were killed by the citizens of the town, Bill Doolin and Bill Dalton came to Ingalls and then reorganized their forces in a cave near the Cimarron River." [Excerpt from The WPA Guide to 1930s Oklahoma - 1941].
Ingalls was settled after the 1889 Land Run. The peak population was 150 in the 1890s. A post office was established which eventually closed in 1907. The town became a mecca for outlaw gangs. As described above in the WPA writing, the outlaw activities culminated in the September 1, 1893 battle between the Doolin and Daltons gangs and three U.S. Marshalls, resulting in the death of the Marshalls. The town took on a reputation of an outlaw town, and because of this, never grew or flourished.
Today, it is a ghost town. It still has a population of about 150, primarily members of three or four families from the early days. There are no commercial business here, and the grouping of dilapidated wood buildings still draws people to Ingalls, to see a small vision of those early frontier days. An historical marker and a stone monument to the Marshalls stands across the street from these buildings.