Ingalls

Overview

The town that sheltered the Doolin gang

Ingalls was started on April 22, 1889, in the first land run into the Unassigned Lands, about nine miles east of Stillwater. It took the name of Kansas senator John J. Ingalls, who helped pass the law that opened the run. Its founders hoped for a railroad that never came, but the town grew to 16 blocks with 100-foot streets, serving the farms around it. It had several doctors, two blacksmith shops, a gristmill, general stores, livery stables, the Ransom and Murray Saloon and the O.K. Hotel, the only two-story building in town.

Bill Doolin and Bill Dalton's gang used the town as a hangout. On September 1, 1893, deputy marshals came in wagons disguised as homesteaders. In the fight that followed, three deputies were killed: Dick Speed, Tom Hueston and Lafe Shadley. Bystanders were hit too. Wikipedia names one killed by a stray round; HistoryNet says stray bullets killed two townspeople. Every outlaw but "Arkansas Tom" Jones escaped.

Ingalls had about 150 people that year. Its reputation drove people away, and it declined after 1900; the post office closed in 1907. An oil strike in 1920 brought a new post office, Signet, just to the northwest, but it closed in 1935 and the Ingalls name came back.

Timeline

Land run, gunfight, decline

1. Apr 22, 1889Dr. Robert F. McMurtry and Robert Beal start the town in the land run into the Unassigned Lands. It is named for Senator John J. Ingalls of Kansas.
2. Jan 22, 1890The post office opens.
3. 1891The school has 40 students, and a town well goes in at Ash and Second.
4. Sep 1, 1893The Battle of Ingalls. Three deputy marshals are killed, and the outlaws escape except Arkansas Tom Jones. The town has about 150 people.
5. After 1900Ingalls declines. The railroad its founders hoped for never comes.
6. 1901The O.K. Hotel, where Arkansas Tom fired from an upper room, is moved to Stillwater.
7. Oct 31, 1907The post office closes.
8. 1920–1935Oil is found just east of town in March 1920. A post office named Signet opens slightly northwest in 1921 and closes in 1935.
9. 1938The state puts up a monument to the dead lawmen.
10. 2011The annual September 1 reenactments of the battle end.
11. 2020The census counts 192 people in the Ingalls census-designated place.

September 1, 1893

The Battle of Ingalls

U.S. Marshal E. D. Nix organized the posse, and Deputy Marshal John Hixon led the first engagement. The fight began when Hixon's men engaged Bitter Creek Newcomb, who was badly wounded but escaped. Arkansas Tom Jones, firing a rifle from the top floor of the O.K. Hotel, had the best position. Wikipedia's account credits Bill Doolin with killing Speed, Bill Dalton with Shadley and Jones with Hueston. Jim Masterson finally threw dynamite into Jones's hiding place, stunning him, and he was captured. Dan Clifton was slightly wounded and also got away.

In 1901 the O.K. Hotel was moved to Stillwater, where it survives at 812 South Hester Street, the only known building left from the fight. When the state put up a monument to the dead lawmen in 1938, an old-timer reportedly said, "They built it for the wrong side."

What's here

A monument and a few old buildings

On the original townsite, Wikipedia places the stone monument to the marshals at Ash Street, and a community building that served as the Ingalls School in the mid-20th century. On the Signet site, slightly northwest, the Ingalls Hotel and a grocery store remain. The hotel housed oilfield workers during the oil boom. It and the grocery, with two newer buildings, stood in for the O.K. Hotel, the Murray Saloon, the Ransom Livery Stable and the Wilson General Store in annual reenactments of the battle, which ended in 2011. Islands, in October 2025, describes a replica of the old hotel, the Wilson General Store and the R.M. Saloon. The only building known to survive from the fight is the O.K. Hotel in Stillwater.

• 1938 monument to the three marshals, Ash Street
• Ingalls Hotel building, from the oil-boom years
• Grocery store
• Former Ingalls School, now a community building

The historic maps below show the crossroads. The 1929 sheet labels it "Ingalls" and "Signet P O" among a cluster of buildings, and the 1990 metric sheet still names Ingalls at the same crossroads.

Historic maps

Ingalls on USGS maps, 1929–1990

Crops from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, centered on the townsite. Each sheet shows what surveyors mapped that year; compare them with today's topo and aerial on this page.

19291:62,50019901:100,000

Map & directions

Getting there

Ingalls is a short paved drive east of Stillwater, about a mile south of OK 51. From Tulsa it's a little over an hour west on OK 51. Both routes were computed from OpenStreetMap and haven't been driven by us.

Base map: USGS The National Map (public domain). Routes: OSRM on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL), computed October 2026. Times assume dry roads.

Photos

Ingalls in photos

Old false-front buildings in Ingalls, July 2020The Ingalls Hotel building, 2007

Visitor reports

Been to Ingalls?

Been there lately? Tell the next visitor what you found: whether you could get in, the state of the road and what's still standing. Photos are welcome. We read every report before it appears here.

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Nearby

Other sites near Ingalls

Straight-line distance from the townsite to other mapped sites in our Oklahoma index.

• Avery16.7 mi SE · Lincoln
• Parkland18.2 mi S · Lincoln
• Jennings18.3 mi E · Pawnee
• Shamrock21.5 mi SE · Creek
• Silver City21.6 mi E · Creek
• Clarkson22.4 mi W · Payne
• Kendrick22.6 mi S · Lincoln
• Blackburn24.6 mi NE · Pawnee

Sources

Sources and credits

1. Wikipedia, "Ingalls, Oklahoma", retrieved October 2026: name, distance from Stillwater, post office dates, peak population, oil strike and Signet, monument at Ash Street, the school building, the hotel's oil-boom use and its role in the reenactments, O.K. Hotel move, end of reenactments, 2020 census, coordinates.
2. Wikipedia, "Battle of Ingalls", retrieved October 2026: posse, how the fight began, deaths and wounded, who is credited with each killing, Arkansas Tom's capture.
3. HistoryNet, "Ghost Towns: Ingalls, Oklahoma" (Steve Mauro, from Wild West, October 2007): founders and date, blocks and businesses, 1891 school and well, disguised posse, bystanders, the missing railroad, 1938 monument and the old-timer's remark.
4. Islands, "Ingalls, Oklahoma" (Taylor Dixon, October 7, 2025): the hotel replica, Wilson General Store and R.M. Saloon; its claim that the town is no longer inhabited.
5. American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020–2024, table B01003, U.S. Census Bureau, posted January 2026: total population of 229 (margin of error ±94) for the Ingalls CDP.
6. ghosttowns.com, "Ingalls": fact-sheet cross-check (county, 2WD roads, post office closed by 1907).
7. Commons file pages for each photo: dates and places taken. Elevation: USGS 3D Elevation Program point query. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026. Not field-checked.

Photo and map credits

• Old false-front buildings in Ingalls, July 2020: Smallboy944, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
• The Ingalls Hotel building, 2007: Elle317K, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
• Area base map, topo and aerial imagery: USGS The National Map (public domain).
• Historic maps: USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection (public domain): Ripley 1929, 1:62,500; Keystone Lake 1990, 1:100,000.