Volume 2 , Issue 10

History of Dakoma (Homer)

Info Courtesy of - Beth Leslie - The following information are excerpts taken from a 1929 "History of Woods County Oklahoma" by Geo. R. Crissman who was with the Department of History and Political Science, Northwestern State Teachers' College and by Ruth Davies, Co-operator, Department of English, Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, Ohio.

1929 - History of Woods County Oklahoma

For several years Dacoma tried two other names before a group of citizens finally asked the U. S. Post Office Department to give it the manufactured name of Dakoma.

The extension of the Frisco railroad westward to Avard created the demand for a town at its present location.

The most important fact affecting the history and development of Dacoma was and is its fertile wheat-producing territory. It would be difficult to find two other towns in the state that are more beautifully and more richly environed by endless fields of wheat than are Dacoma and Capron. Dacoma located 14 miles SE and Capron located 11 miles NE of Alva.

In Dacoma there were five large elevators that marketed annually more than one-half million bushels of wheat. In addition to these Mill and Elevator Companies Dacoma had some of the best business establishments of the County:

• A. W. Lewis Lumber
• Grain and Coal Co. (G.W. Crowell, partner)
• State Bank of Dakoma (J. H. Dye, cashier)
• C. V. Poulson, Grocery and Hardware
• George Whittet, Grocery
• W. E. Hiatt, General Store
• P.E. Sweeney and Co., Dry Goods and Ready-to-wear (this was corrected 15 March 2003 from Swan to Sweeney. See info below.)
• Unusual Garage and Repair Shops of the Bruner Bros.

March, 2003 correction -- This writer, editor and history buff has recently come in to contact with some corrections concerning the P. E. Sweeney and Co., Dry Goods and Ready -to-wear business that was a business establishment in Dacoma in its earlier heyday. The early source I had listed it has P. E. Swan.

Here is the corrected version... Patti Kilbourne sent me this information because it was a part of her family legacy -- "P.E. Swan & Company? -- Pearl Sweeney and her mother Alice Sweeney had this store - Alice was my great-great-grandmother and Pearl was my great-grandfather's sister. I have always heard the store referred to as "Sweeney's" and am wondering if the name is listed wrong here. I did some calling to relatives who lived in Dacoma when the store was there and they said it was 'P. E. Sweeney'."

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More on Dacoma....

Dacoma was and is particularly proud of her moral and cultural advantage. During the 1920s Dakoma boasted a population of 400 (around 1929). It also boasted two thriving churches, a well equipped fully accredited High School in a handsome brick building, and several beautiful modern residences.

The manufactured name of "Dakoma" came from the combination of the words "Dakota" (meaning friend) and "Oklahoma". The Post Office mistakenly recorded "Dakoma" as "Dacoma".

Dakoma Was Born . . . >According to an article written by Loleta Leslie and Lois Sense around 1977, "Dakoma was born October 3, 1904 along Lake Creek east of Eagle Chief creek on fertile lands of the Cherokee Strip."

March 1, 1903 was the completion date of the 182 miles of the Arkansas Valley and Western Railroad from Tulsa by way of Enid on to Dakoma and terminating in Avard with the junction of the Santa Fe Railroad.

Zula, located 3 1/2 miles north of present day Dacoma was the first Post Office. Homer was the name of the pump station for the railroad, but the name "Homer" was already taken, so "Dakoma" was chosen. Due to a clerical error, "Dacoma" was recorded.

Promoters from Fayetteville, Arkansas, with A. F. Wolfe as it representative formed the "Dakoma Town Co.", purchased land and planned the town. Dakoma was located in the E/2 of Section 11 T25N-R13W on the original claims of Frank Kimberline and Nathan Dedman (both negroes). Blocks were platted and a locust tree planted in the corner of each block. The last locust tree was chopped down in 1977. The Lots sold for $30 each.

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