Cromwell

The Cromwell oil field and town were named for Joe Cromwell of Muskogee, Oklahoma. A gas well, the #1 Jim Willis in the SE/4 SE/4 NW/4 of section 15-10N-8E, was completed at a depth of 3,466 feet by the Cosden Oil Co. on November 14, 1922. However, it was not until the discovery of oil by the Cromwell Oil and Gas Company at the #1 Bruner in the NW/4 NE/4 SW/4 of section 15-10N-8E on October 2, 1923, completed to a depth of 3,475 feet, that the drilling boom started. A total of 393 wells produced oil in the field, with the largest oil well producing 5,600 barrels per day and the largest gas well producing 125.000,000 M.C.F. The town of Cromwell and the surrounding oil field had a peak population of 10,000 during 1923 and 1924. Lawlessness became rampant and caused the town to be named "Cromwell the Wicked." In September 1924, prisoners from Cromwell were handcuffed to a log chain and marched 14 miles to the county jail in Wewoka. To help curb the lawlessness in the town, William Bill Tilghman, a pioneer law officer and one of Oklahoma's famous "Three Guardsmen," was named chief of police in September 1924. On November 1, 1924, at the age of 70, Tilghman was slain at the entrance of Murphy's Dance Hall.

Cromwell, Oklahoma · United States