Oakhurst

Overview

Between Tulsa and Sapulpa

Oakhurst sits on the southwest edge of Tulsa, where the city meets Sapulpa and Sand Springs, and it straddles the Tulsa and Creek county line. The 1912 USGS map shows a place called New Taneha on the Frisco railroad at this spot, with Taneha and the Bowden post office a little to the southwest. An undated, unsigned history says the community began as a Creek town called Teneha. Wikipedia gives 1918 as the year Oakhurst was established.

The same history says natural gas was so plentiful here in the early 1900s that street corners had their own gas lamps. In 1926 Route 66 came through on the road from Tulsa to Sapulpa, now Southwest Boulevard and Frankoma Road. It carried the highway until 1951, when US 66 moved to a four-lane road on the east side of town, and in 1959 it moved again, onto what is now I-44.

Oakhurst never became a town in its own right. The undated history says it was incorporated in 1918 but did nothing with it, and that when its papers turned up at the state capitol around 1995, an effort to revive the town failed. We found no record to confirm either claim. The Census Bureau lists it as an unincorporated place of 2,262 people in 2020, and it loses area as Tulsa and Sapulpa grow around it. It is on ghost-town lists for its old core. The undated history lists a post office, a few early buildings, old sidewalks and gas lamps; 2026 photos show the post office and an empty filling station on the first Route 66.

Route 66

Sapulpa Road

When US 66 was laid out in 1926, it left Tulsa across the Arkansas River and turned south on Quanah Avenue, now Southwest Boulevard. The road curved southwest through Red Fork and Oakhurst to Sapulpa and was known as Sapulpa Road. TheRoute-66.com says this 1926 to 1951 alignment can still be driven, as Southwest Boulevard and Frankoma Road.

From 1951 to 1959 the highway forked off at 48th Street onto a four-lane road beside the Turner Turnpike, now OK 66, which met the old road again in Sapulpa. From 1959 US 66 followed I-44 through the Tulsa area. When Oklahoma's historic preservation office sought a new survey of Route 66 buildings in Tulsa County in 2020, Route 66 News listed Oakhurst and Red Fork as the county's communities along the road.

The plainest relic of the old highway is a small brick filling station at 6300 Southwest Boulevard. TheRoute-66.com calls it Turney's and Casey's, a filling station, garage, diner and café, and says it is vacant. Photos from September 15, 2026 show it empty: painted brick walls, a hipped roof with a canopy on brick piers, a roll-up garage door and a boarded window, on a corner of the old highway. It has a Tulsa mailing address now.

What's here

The old core

The same undated history lists a post office, a volunteer fire department, a few old buildings, stretches of the original sidewalks and some of the old gas street lamps. One of the buildings near the railroad, it says, was a hotel for migrant farm workers and oil-field hands, and a rumor holds that it was a brothel in the early 1900s. That is a story, not a record. We found no dated report on the sidewalks, lamps or the hotel building.

The post office was photographed on September 23, 2026. It is a flat-roofed red brick building with "United States Post Office, Oakhurst, Oklahoma 74050" across its front. People live here and own these buildings. Look from the street.

• Turney's and Casey's filling station (empty, September 2026)
• Oakhurst post office (photographed September 2026)
• Old sidewalks and gas street lamps (undated account)
• Early hotel building near the railroad (undated account)
• Southwest Boulevard and Frankoma Road, the 1926 to 1951 Route 66

The historic maps below show the place before and after the highway. The 1912 sheet labels the spot New Taneha, on the railroad marked St. Louis and San Francisco, with Taneha and Bowden P.O. to the southwest and Red Fork's street grid to the northeast. The 1956 sheet shows Oakhurst's grid beside the railroad, with a four-lane highway marked US 66 and US 75 cutting past its east end and a toll gate beside it. The 1990 sheet labels Oakhurst between Red Fork and Bowden, with the turnpike crossing the grid.

Historic maps

Oakhurst on USGS maps, 1912–1990

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.

19121:125,00019561:24,00019901:100,000

Map & directions

Getting there

Oakhurst is on I-44 at exits 221 and 222, on the southwest edge of Tulsa. From downtown Tulsa it's about 11 minutes; from Oklahoma City, about an hour and 45 minutes on I-44. To find the old core, follow South 49th West Avenue north from the interstate to Southwest Boulevard, the old Route 66, and turn west. The old town lies south of the boulevard.

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

Photos

Oakhurst in photos

The empty filling station on Southwest Boulevard, September 2026The station's canopy and boarded window, September 2026The Oakhurst post office, September 2026

Visitor reports

Been to Oakhurst?

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.

Thanks. Your report reached us, and we'll read it before it goes on the page.

Nearby

Other sites near Oakhurst

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

• Alsuma10.6 mi E · Tulsa
• Mannford16.2 mi W · Creek
• Slick24.2 mi SW · Creek
• Silver City24.8 mi W · Creek
• Redbird29.0 mi SE · Wagoner
• Jennings29.8 mi W · Pawnee
• Shamrock31.6 mi W · Creek
• Depew31.8 mi SW · Creek

Sources

Sources and credits

1. Wikipedia, "Oakhurst, Oklahoma", retrieved October 2026: unincorporated census place in Tulsa and Creek counties, established 1918, 2000 to 2020 census counts, shrinking area, I-44 exits 221 and 222, coordinates (GNIS).
2. Austin Whittall, "Route 66 from Tulsa to Chandler," TheRoute-66.com (updated February 2, 2024): the 1926 to 1951 alignment on Quanah Avenue and Sapulpa Road through Oakhurst, the 1951 to 1959 and post-1959 alignments, Turney's and Casey's station, now vacant.
3. Route 66 News, "Oklahoma seeks updates on its inventory of Route 66 structures in two counties", January 23, 2020: Oakhurst and Red Fork as Tulsa County's communities along Route 66.
4. TheRoute-66.com, "Quapaw" (updated July 13, 2025): I-44 between Oklahoma City and Joplin as the Turner and Will Rogers turnpikes.
5. ghosttowns.com, "Oakhurst" (undated): fact sheet (counties, 2WD road, climate, best time, directions, remains) and history (Teneha, 1918 incorporation, the 1995 revival effort, gas street lamps, the old hotel and its rumor).
6. G. Edward Johnson, Wikimedia Commons, photos taken September 15, 2026: the empty station at 6300 Southwest Boulevard and its Tulsa mailing address; TulGuy, Wikimedia Commons, September 2026: the post office.
7. USGS historical topographic maps (Hominy 1912, Sapulpa North 1956, Keystone Lake 1990): New Taneha, Taneha and Bowden P.O., the 1950s highway and toll gate. Elevation: USGS 3D Elevation Program point query. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026.

Photo and map credits

• The empty filling station on Southwest Boulevard, September 2026: G. Edward Johnson, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
• The station's canopy and boarded window, September 2026: G. Edward Johnson, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
• The Oakhurst post office, September 2026: TulGuy, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
• Area base map, topo and aerial imagery: USGS The National Map (public domain).
• Historic maps: USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection (public domain): Hominy 1912, 1:125,000; Sapulpa North 1956, 1:24,000; Keystone Lake 1990, 1:100,000.