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Cleveland was named for Cleveland, Ohio, which
had been named for Moses Cleveland. In October
1879, the town company laid out the town on the
Kingman-Medicine Stage Line. By the end of the
year four or five houses were erected and a well was
dug fifty feet deep. January 2, 1880 a post office was
organized; Jonathan R. Snively was the first postmaster.
In February a new windmill was put up to
draw water from the town well; in June a Sunday
School was organized.
In 1881, the town aspired to be county seat and a great railroad center. Its chief recommendation was its location in the center of the county. A newspaper, the Cleveland Star, was established by P.J. Conklin to help the cause along. A petition was sent to the county commissioners to relocate the county seat. An election was held on November 7; Kingman secured a majority. February 1, 1882, the newspaper moved to Kingman; its name was changed to Republican. Cleveland's population in the eighties was eighty. The first railroad, H O G (Hutchinson, Oklahoma & Gulf), came in 1890. The railroad named the station Carvel, because there was a Cleveland, Oklahoma on the line. In February 1892, the first elevator was built by Al Winslow and Jack L. Liggett with material from the Howell & Stout mill in Kingman. The town was at its peak in the early 1900's. The Methodists, organized in 1892, built a church in 1905. There were two elevators, two lumber yards, two general merchandise stores, a hotel, a physician, a post office, a blacksmith, a telephone exchange and a fire department. The school closed in May 1958. It had been organized August 14, 1879, two months before the town was organized. The post office closed October l, 1957. The church disbanded in December 1967; the building was sold and torn down. The school house is now used as a township hall. The only surviving business is the Bunge Elevator. There are eight homes and twenty four inhabitants. |
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