Ottawa County, Oklahoma
Vintage Photographs from Yesteryear

A collection of early day photos from Ottawa County towns.
By John Schehrer
About This Site.

I decided to group the pictures by towns.  To view the pictures, click on the link and just follow links from picture to picture.  Some towns have a few pictures, others such as Picher and Miami, have many.  To view the pictures with full screen, depress F11 .   Please report any non-working links or unusual appearing displays.  I am far from an expert at this, so I will learn as I go.  I have learned that if it is possible for something to not work right, sooner or later it won't.
Copyright 2000 by John Schehrer.  All Rights Reserved.
   Other Links.



Ottawa County Research

"Digging Up Okies" 
Genealogy site.  Go here 
for genealogy help.

More Genealogy links

Cardinkids.com
Great website for information on people who lived in Cardin and Picher
I have been collecting all kinds of old pictures from the towns in Ottawa County since I was very young.  I was always interested in the mining towns and collected everything that I could find.  I decided that I would share some of them on this website so others who have never been to Ottawa County but had ancestors there could see what the area was like.  I need more pictures of some of the towns. I am not an expert on history of the area, so I will just show the pictures.  I am always looking for more and will put them up when I get them. Thanks to all who have already contributed photos for this site.
The Great Picher Mining District of Ottawa County, Oklahoma

For about 70 years, from about 1900 until 1970, lead and zinc mining began and ended in Ottawa County, Oklahoma.  During the 1920s more money was made in Ottawa County than all the others in the state combined.  It was a prairie bonanza that came on fast and has now faded away.  I would estimate that 99% of all the mining structures and houses of that time are gone.  The towns of Cardin, Picher, Hockerville, and Treece are now gone. It is impossible to imagine how much existed then that is gone now.  These vintage pictures will give some idea of what it looked like.  There are pictures of mines, miners, houses, and towns that no longer exist.  There is to be a section showing the end of the mining era and the last mining operations as well as abandoned mines.  Hopefully, I can get more pictures and will add them if I see something that looks different.  Mining scenes are found in several of the towns listed in the links section on the left column.  Pages may load slow due to the large amount of graphic content, so you may have to be patient to see these photos.  Enjoy a trip through yesteryear.
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THE PHOTOS ON THIS WEBSITE ARE FROM MY OWN COLLECTION AND FROM PHOTOS SENT TO ME BY OTHER PEOPLE.  PLEASE DO NOT USE ON OTHER SITES WITHOUT MY PERMISSION.  ALL PHOTOS ARE WATERMARKED FOR TRACEABILITY.