The Muskogee Roads was the colloquial name for a system of railroads under common management operationally headquartered in

Muskogee, Oklahoma Muskogee () is the 13th-largest city in Oklahoma and is the county seat of Muskogee County, Oklahoma, Muskogee County. Home to Bacone College, it lies approximately southeast of Tulsa, Oklahoma, Tulsa. The population of the city was 36,878 as of ...

and controlled by the Muskogee Company of

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. The Muskogee Roads were the only

Class I railroad Railroad classes are the system by which Rail freight transport, freight railroads are designated in the United States. Railroads are assigned to Class I, II or III according to annual revenue criteria originally set by the Surface Transportatio ...

s to be headquartered in

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

and had a major impact on the development and livelihood of the region. The Muskogee Roads were the

Midland Valley Railroad The Midland Valley Railroad (MV) was a railroad company incorporated on June 4, 1903 for the purpose of building a line from Hope, Arkansas, through Muskogee and Tulsa, Oklahoma to Wichita, Kansas. It was backed by C. Jared Ingersoll, a Philadelp ...

, the

Kansas, Oklahoma and Gulf Railway The Kansas, Oklahoma and Gulf Railway (“KO&G”) had at its height 310.5 miles of track from Denison, Texas through Oklahoma to Baxter Springs, Kansas. Its various predecessor companies built the line between 1904 and 1913. The railroad was c ...

, and the Oklahoma City-Ada-Atoka Railway. The Muskogee Company also controlled the Osage Railway. The prehistory of the Muskogee Company might be said to begin with the building of the Choctaw, Oklahoma & Gulf Railroad in the 1890s by a group of Philadelphia businessmen headed by Charles Edward Ingersoll; that line ran from

McAlester, Oklahoma McAlester is the county seat of Pittsburg County, Oklahoma. The population was 18,363 at the time of the 2010 census, a 3.4 percent increase from 17,783 at the 2000 census.Shuller, Thurman"McAlester" profile ''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and ...

Hartford, Arkansas Hartford is a city in Sebastian County, Arkansas, United States. It is part of the Fort Smith, Arkansas-Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 642 at the 2010 census. Clergyman James T. Draper, Jr., president of the South ...

. The Ingersoll group sold the line in 1902, but then decided to build a new line from

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the List of cities in Kansas, most populous city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 397, ...

to Ft. Smith, Arkansas. The resulting Midland Valley Railroad Company was chartered in 1903, and the whole line was finished by 1906. The Muskogee Company was formed in 1923 to manage the affairs of the railroad. An independently-owned but associated road, the Osage Railway, was built during the early 1920s. It was to accommodate traffic from the oil fields located in the Osage Nation. The Kansas, Oklahoma & Gulf Railroad was a nearby line that had twice gone into receivership. That railway ran from

Denison, Texas Denison is a city in Grayson County, Texas, United States, south of the Texas–Oklahoma border. Its population was 24,479 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, up from 22,682 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. Denison is pa ...

to Baxter Springs, Kansas. Ownership passed into the hands of the Muskogee Company in 1926, and the line was soon generating a profit. In 1929, the Muskogee Company acquired the Oklahoma City-Ada-Atoka Railroad Company and its subsidiary, the Oklahoma City-Shawnee Interurban Company. At this point the Ingersoll interests owned and operated four railways with 756 miles of track. The Osage Railroad was abandoned in 1953. In 1963, the Texas & Pacific, which was a subsidiary of the

Missouri Pacific Railroad The Missouri Pacific Railroad , commonly abbreviated as MoPac, was one of the first railroads in the United States west of the Mississippi River. MoPac was a Class I railroad growing from dozens of predecessors and mergers. In 1967, the railroad o ...

, acquired the other three lines. The Oklahoma City-Ada-Atoka was sold to the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe that same year, while the others were consolidated into the Texas & Pacific.

References

{{reflist Defunct Arkansas railroads Defunct Kansas railroads Defunct Oklahoma railroads

Roads A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved. The ...

Predecessors of the Missouri Pacific Railroad Railway companies established in 1923 Railway companies disestablished in 1964