Oklahoma, New Mexico and Pacific Railroad Depot
a.k.a. Ringling Road Station
N. Washington and NE. 3rd, Ardmore, OKThe Ringling Road Depot in Ardmore is significant because it is the only building in Oklahoma directly associated with John Ringling of Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus.
John Ringling's railroad building efforts led directly to the establishment of three towns in southern Oklahoma: Ringling, Wilson, and Healdton, as well as the Healdton oilfield.
Ringling and the city of Ardmore built this depot in 1915, with Ringling's Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Pacific Railroad Company. Construction of a line west from Ardmore had been begun in 1913 and was supposed to reach Lawton, Oklahoma. By the time builders finished the depot, the line extended 25 miles to the west, the present site of Ringling, Oklahoma. The depot built there no longer exists.
The Ringling Road never extended further west than Ringling because of the discovery of oil at Healdton, Oklahoma. The oil field at Healdton was vital to the Allied effort in World War I. It supplied 50% of all the oil the Allied powers used during the war. The Ringling Road made this output possible.
The Santa Fe Railroad Company purchased the Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Pacific Railroad from Ringling in 1926. Santa Fe used the line until 1976, when they closed the 25-mile stretch. They sold the depot to the city of Ardmore, which leased it to the local American Legion.
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.