Phillips, Oklahoma

Episode 60 / 7 March 2018 / 148 min / full

A Triangle Of Tragedy

"James says they are heading to Phillips, Oklahoma, in the south central part of the state, and that it is in Coal County." about 0:06:13

The case: Murders of Judy Mayo and Melissa Moody (September 1991). Read the case file.

The figures, as told in 2018

Population

129

Median age

42.5

Median home value

$65,000

Two-bedroom rent

about $658

Cost of living

82

Religious

66%

Property crime

exactly average

Violent crime

▲ about 50% higher

History, in brief

• Choctaw Native Americans began arriving in the 1830s, removed from the American South and forced into the area. about 0:09:00
• Coal County was carved mostly from what is now Atoka County and the Pushmataha district, Indian territory. about 0:10:20
• Coal mining and agriculture were the main sources of employment. about 0:10:55
• Mining picked up in the 1870s and attracted large numbers of Eastern European immigrants. about 0:10:58
• Mine permits cost five dollars annually, paid to the Choctaw Nation. about 0:11:06
• Coal mines opened in Lehigh and Colgate in the 1880s. about 0:11:55
• Railroads were built to serve the mines, and Centrahoma and other towns began as railroad stops. about 0:11:59
• The town is named for Henry L. Phillips, who opened a store and operated a coal mine. about 0:12:23
• When the post office opened in 1892, Henry L. Phillips became the first postmaster. about 0:12:28
• Oklahoma became a state in 1907 and Coal County was organised then, with 15,585 residents. about 0:13:03
• Boon Williams of Lehigh, a Democratic representative, persuaded the first state legislature to select Lehigh as county seat. about 0:13:11
• A special election in 1908 chose Colgate over Lehigh and Centrahoma, but more people voted than were registered and the courts refused to hear the case. about 0:13:29
• The first courthouse was built in 1909. about 0:14:07
• Mining peaked between 1910 and 1916, with thousands of men working in the mines. about 0:14:15
• Italian, French, Mexican and Slovakian immigrants came in during the mining boom. about 0:14:34
• Strip mining companies came after the First World War, but the mines declined and closed in 1921. about 0:16:15
• The county population fell from 18,406 in 1920 to 11,521 in 1930. about 0:16:42
• The mines reopened during the Second World War and closed completely by 1958. about 0:17:14
• In 1910 there were only about 1,100 farms, and by the turn of the 21st century only 586 were left. about 0:19:03
• The post office closed in 1927. about 0:19:09
• In 1956 the school closed and was annexed to Colgate. about 0:20:17
• The Clear Boggy and Muddy Boggy rivers run through the area. about 0:20:53
• In April 2005 Coal County commissioners voted unanimously to ask Sheriff Roy Deck to resign over allegations that he sexually harassed an 18-year-old female dispatcher; he refused. about 0:21:10

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