Rodney, Oklahoma

Rodney is a former community in Pushmataha County, Oklahoma, five miles north of Antlers, Oklahoma.

Map showing location of Rodney, Indian Territory, circa 1898.

A United States Post Office was established at Rodney, Indian Territory on June 30, 1890 and closed on July 5, 1899. The community was named for Rodney Moyer, early-day resident. It was located at the site of Rodney Crossing, a low-water ford on the Kiamichi River.[1]

During the short life of the community it was located in Jack’s Fork County, Choctaw Nation, in the Indian Territory.[2] It was astride the St. Louis and San Francisco Railway, as well as Rodney Crossing, an important river ford where a north-south trail crossed the Kiamichi.

An important local landmark is Rodney Mountain (767 ft.), also named for Rodney Moyer.[3]

The community was a "saw mill town", centered on the activities, commerce and bustle generated by its saw mill. As timber was logged from nearby mountainsides the saw mill relocated to other areas deeper within the mountains. Rodney, which had never developed a population base or economic mainstay other than the mill, went out of existence.

Rodney's namesake, Rodney Moyer, left the area to participate in Alaska's Klondike gold rush at about the time of the community's disestablishment, according to information made available to the Pushmataha County Historical Society. His time and place of death are not known.[4]

References

1. George H. Shirk, Oklahoma Place Names, p. 181; Post Office Site Location Reports, Record Group 28, National Archives; Map of Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory, coal and asphalt segregation and pine timber of commercial value, GPO, 1904.
2. Morris, John W. Historical Atlas of Oklahoma (Norman: University of Oklahoma, 1986), plate 38.
3. Google Maps.
4. Information on Rodney Moyer was supplied to the county historical society by Charlyne Moyer Hellekson, a local descendant of the family.