Town file
Dewey, Oklahoma
Dewey, Oklahoma (Washington County, Oklahoma) is the town in one episode of Small Town Murder, the comedy true-crime podcast: episode 100, "Is There A "Killer Gene"?" (3 January 2019). Dewey sits in Washington County in north-eastern Oklahoma, about fifteen miles from the Kansas border and fifty minutes from Tulsa.
- Town
- Dewey
- County
- Washington County
- State
- Oklahoma
- Country
- USA
- Episodes
- 100
- Approximate location
- 36.790, -95.934
Episode 100 / 3 January 2019 / 150 min / full
Is There A "Killer Gene"?
"This is Dewey, Oklahoma... Dewey is in Washington County." about 0:08:54
The case: Murder of Greg Brown (August 24, 1982); Murder of Chester Dean Dreyer (December 1989). Read the case file.
The figures, as told in 2019
- Population
- 3,499
- Median age
- about 35 and a half
- Median household income
- less than $33,000
- Median home value
- $64,600
- Two-bedroom rent
- about $760
- Cost of living
- 78
- Religious
- 71.1%
- Property crime
- ▼ about 20% under the national average
- Violent crime
- ▼ about 20% under the national average
History, in brief
- In 1899 Jacob Bartles, son-in-law of Delaware Chief Charles Journey Cake, bought a grist mill on the north bank of the Caney River where Bartlesville now stands. about 0:11:09
- Bartles moved the grist mill and a trading post three miles north to land he owned, and that became Dewey. about 0:11:45
- He built the Dewey Hotel in 1900. about 0:12:00
- The Dewey Eagle newspaper started in 1900. about 0:12:05
- The Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad came to Dewey in 1903. about 0:12:10
- The town was chartered in 1905. about 0:12:49
- The first Dewey Roundup was held in 1908 and it was once one of the most popular rodeo events, alongside the Calgary Stampede and the Cheyenne Rodeo Days. about 0:12:59
- The Dewey Roundup was the annual Fourth of July event until it stopped in 1948. about 0:16:24
- Dewey High School now stands on the grounds where the Dewey Roundup was held. about 0:16:28
- The Dewey Portland Cement Company opened in 1906 and was a major employer until the 1950s layoffs; the plant closed in September 1965. about 0:16:41
- Dewey had concrete electrical poles, which are still in use, and paved streets and sidewalks before most places because concrete was plentiful. about 0:17:15
- The town had 748 residents in 1907. about 0:17:47
- Tom Mix was the town marshal in 1912; Dewey is home to the Tom Mix Museum and hosts an annual Tom Mix Festival and Wild West Show, together known as the Western Heritage Weekend. about 0:18:02
- The vintage concrete jailhouse is called the Tom Mix Jail and stands by the Dewey Hotel Museum. about 0:19:11
- The town motto, from its website, is 'the city of vision'. about 0:09:21
Nearest Small Town Murder towns
- Bartlesville, Oklahoma3.7 miles
- Jenks, Oklahoma55 miles
- Arkansas City, Kansas64 miles
- Depew, Oklahoma76 miles
- Wellington, Kansas88 miles
- Cincinnati, Arkansas94 miles
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.