Town of Saint Jo

Saint Jo reached 1,000 people by 1890 but fell to 825 by 1900. It then grew steadily through most of the twentieth century, to 985 by the mid-1920s, with fifty-five rated businesses ten years later. In 1926 oil was found just across the line in Cooke County, and local hay and asphalt production prospered. The town had 1,010 people and forty-eight businesses in the late 1940s and 1,147 a decade later. By the mid-1970s it had 1,105 people but only twenty-seven businesses, and in 2000 the population was 977.

What the plaque says

One of oldest towns in Montague County. Founded in 1850s, during great California Gold Rush, by E.S. and Ithane Singletary (Brothers) and John Hughes, who hoped to find gold here. The community they started became known as "Head of Elm" for its location at headwaters of Elm Fork of Trinity River. In 1858 Head of Elm ran--and lost--race for county seat. A post office opened here (at site of marker) in 1859, with John Womble, another pioneer, as postmaster. An early store and saloon were owned by Dominick Burns. Next spurt of growth for town came with locating of Chisholm Cattle Trail through here about 1868. In 1871 village had a post office, blacksmith shop, and five stores. In 1872 I.H. Boggess (owner of the famous Stonewall Saloon) and Joe Howell bought 640 acres of land and laid out townsite, which Boggess named "Joe", for Howell. One story says he decided to add "Saint" because Joe was a staunch non-drinker; another version claims he added it to make the name longer. In 1874 citizens built an all-faiths church and in 1876 a newspaper was established. Saint Jo was organized as a town in 1880; incorporated in 1886. Population has remained about 1,000 since that time and economy is still based on farming and ranching. (1972)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Stonewall Saloon Museum — 0.2 mi
  Saint Jo's first permanent building, a stone saloon of 1873 with rooms upstairs for trail drovers, in a town named, the story goes, as a joke on a founder who did not drink.
• Lake Murray State Park — 35 mi
  Oklahoma's first and largest state park, built by New Deal crews on former Chickasaw Nation land south of Ardmore, with Tucker Tower, a governors' retreat never finished, on a point above the lake.

More markers nearby

• Montague Cemetery — 12 mi
• Forestburg — 12 mi
• Red River Station — 12 mi
• Illinois Bend School — 13 mi