The reason why Turpin, Oklahoma is named Turpin, Oklahoma

I had always wanted to visit Turpin, Beaver County, Oklahoma, named after a paternal uncle of my grandfather's. Being a native of Oklahoma, I am accustomed to flat spaces, but even the Panhandle's flatness amazed me. Oklahoma's Panhandle has a huge BLUE tent of a sky that reaches to forever. We could see the small town of Turpin long before we actually reached it. My husband took the above picture of our children taking pictures of the post office at Turpin, Beaver County, Oklahoma. Above that picture is a picture of my great grand uncle, Carl Julian Turpin.

Turpin, Oklahoma was named for Carl Julian Turpin, a son of Thomas James Turpin and Elmanda (Kennerly ) Turpin. Carl was born on 10 Aug 1871 in Quantico, Wicomico County, Maryland. He died 20 Nov 1942 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma County, Oklahoma. (1)

Carl J. Turpin was the general manager of the Beaver, Mead and Englewood Railroad. (2) In 1918, two Hardtner, Kansas farmers, Jacob Achenbach and Ira B. Blackstock, requested his assistance. Messrs. Achenbach and Blackstock had been asked by farmers in Beaver County, OK, and the surrounding areas to build a railroad through the Panhandle so that their wheat crops could be shipped to outlying markets. Achenbach and Blackstock knew how to build the railroad, but they needed someone to manage it. That is where Carl Julian Turpin came in. (3) Mr. Turpin had ample experience as a railroad man, his career beginning in 1888. (4)

Described as a “by the book” type of general manager, Carl J. Turpin was a stern, well groomed man. (5) He worked without salary, but did receive stock in the line, from 1918 until 1926. At its height, the Beaver, Mead and Englewood Railroad ran from Beaver, Oklahoma, to Eva, Oklahoma, with an extension and connection to the Santa Fe Railroad in Keyes, Oklahoma. The line connected with the Katy at Forgan, Oklahoma and the Rock Island at Hooker, Oklahoma. The BM&E was eventually sold to M-K-T (Katy) Railroad Company in 1931. (6)

“When I was a kid 20 years old, but married, I used to want to work for a railroad which paid $50 a month and furnished its agents a two-story house on the line, rent, brooms, and matches free. Maybe I still could find something like that,” he (Carl J. Turpin) said, after the sale of the Beaver, Mead and Englewood Railroad. (7)

Sources:

1. "Carl J. Turpin, Savings and Loan Official Here, Is Dead,” The Daily Oklahoman, November 20, 1942

2. United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places Inventory, Nomination Form for Turpin Grain Elevator, March 18, 1983.

3. “Panhandlers,” Time Magazine, July 13, 1931

4. “Carl J. Turpin, Savings and Loan Official Here, Is Dead,” The Daily Oklahoman, November 20, 1942

5. Hofsommer, Donovan L., Katy Northwest: The Story of a Branch Line Railroad, page 190, (Pruett Publishing Company, Boulder, Colorado, 1975; reprinted by Indiana University Press, 1999.)

6. “Faith in Oklahoma Reaps Rich Rewards,” The Daily Oklahoman, March 7, 1931

7. “Faith in Oklahoma Reaps Rich Rewards,” The Daily Oklahoman, March 7, 1931

(I also wrote and posted a portion of this blog posting under the entry for "Turpin, Oklahoma" on the Wikipedia site.)