Case Notes

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Town file

Bartlesville, Oklahoma

Bartlesville, Oklahoma (Washington and Osage counties, Oklahoma) is the town in one episode of Small Town Murder, the comedy true-crime podcast: episode 154, "A Bloody Puzzle With Missing Pieces" (16 January 2020).

Town
Bartlesville
County
Washington and Osage counties
State
Oklahoma
Country
USA
Episodes
154
Approximate location
36.738, -95.948
N ↑Public placePublic placePublic placePublic placeTown centre (approximate places)
Static locations; no street basemap. OpenFreeMap © OpenMapTiles Data from OpenStreetMap.

Episode 154 / 16 January 2020 / 161 min / full

A Bloody Puzzle With Missing Pieces

"We're going all the way to Bartlesville, Oklahoma ... this town is in both counties ... Washington and Osage counties." about 0:06:05

The case: Murder of Sandra Allen (June 11, 1990). Read the case file.

The figures, as told in 2020

Population
36,398
Median age
about 38 and a half
Median household income
$50,826
Median home value
$99,400
Two-bedroom rent
$760 a month
Cost of living
80
Property crime
▲ about 10% over
Violent crime
▼ about 20% under

History, in brief

  • Jacob Bartles, son-in-law of Delaware chief Charles Journey Cake, had a grist mill modified to produce flour. about 0:09:48
  • Bartles went to Dewey, opened a store and helped create that town. about 0:10:25
  • Other settlers moved into the area, then called Bartles town, around 1880, and Bartles moved the post office there from Turkey Creek. about 0:10:31
  • Bartles brought electricity, a telephone system and water distribution to the community. about 0:11:07
  • The city began when a general store opened on the south side of the river in 1884. about 0:11:15
  • The newspaper began publishing in 1895. about 0:11:15
  • Bartlesville was incorporated in Indian Territory in 1897 and surveyed in 1898. about 0:11:31
  • The town gave land to the railroad, which arrived by 1899; Bartles then moved to Dewey. about 0:11:36
  • Bartlesville was originally a sundown town where black people were not allowed to live or be after dark. about 0:13:18
  • By 1907 the town restricted the ban on black people living there. about 0:13:55
  • In 1907 the newspapers bragged about the town's first natural death of a black man, Robert McGee. about 0:14:47
  • In 1957 Bartlesville was the test site for the first pay-television experiment, the Bartlesville Telemovie system. about 0:15:17
  • The system played The Pajama Game, starring Doris Day, to 300 homes for $9.50 a month. about 0:18:06
  • The service had 800 subscribers before it ended. about 0:20:33

The reviews read out

"The town used to be a nice place for retirees, Phillips and Conoco employees and ordinary families, but it has declined sharply; there are plenty of churches, hotels and available rentals, the high school ranks 2,377 nationally with 25.1 out of 100 for college readiness, and crime is rising, especially near the high school."
about 0:20:45

Open the episode file

Nearest Small Town Murder towns

Everything here is as told in the episode, on the date it went out; figures and places may have changed since. Endings are covered: open an episode and use the spoiler switch to read them.