In about 1915, a shortline railway was built to connect a boomtown in Creek County named Depew to another boomtown named Shamrock.
The name of the shortline stretch of track was called the “Sapulpa & Oil Fields Railroad,” though the route only existed in the nine-mile stretch between Depew and Shamrock and never even came close to Sapulpa, which was some thirty-two miles away.
Reports indicate that the Sapulpa & Oil Fields Railroad (or S&OF, as it was also called), actually bypassed Shamrock by three-fourths of a mile, causing citizens to move their establishments to be closer to the railroad, which brought both passengers and freight related to the development of the Shamrock oil field.
Shamrock itself had only been a town for about five years, receiving its postal designation in 1910 and being named by founder James T. Thomas for his hometown in Illinois.
The town brought along a strong Irish heritage and culture, including street names such as Tipperary Road, as Dublin, Killarney, Blarney, and Cork.
The railroad depot was painted green with white trim and had a shamrock (three-leaf clover) painted over the town’s name.
When the railroads arrived, the tiny town became a shipping point for oil-field equipment and crude oil.
The first town lot was sold in 1915, and by 1916, Shamrock had not one but two newspapers, thirty buildings, including banks and a brick school building was on the way. Later that year, approximately 5,000 people observed the first St. Patrick’s Day celebration.
As the oil boom flourished, so did the town, reaching a peak of between ten and fifteen thousand people.
Eventually though, the territory became “pretty well drilled up,” and the town’s prosperity began to fade.
The S&OF was purchased by the Frisco in 1917, and town began a rather sharp decline, hitting 1,409 in 1920 and 777 in 1930. The railroad abandoned their line in 1957, further stagnating the town.
By 1970 Shamrock had only 204 citizens. It reached its lowest point at 1990 of only 95.
In 2010, Shamrock disincorporated the town—effectively qualifying it as a ghost town.
