One of the more notorius oil boom towns, Whizbang was founded 1921 in the Burbank Field oil field. The postal service thought the name Whizbang was undignified for a town and when the post office was officially opened on December 31s, 1921, they changed the name to Denoya after a prominent Osage Indian and family in the area. There are several legends concerning where the name of Whizbang came from. The popular version was that it was named after a pulp magazine of the era call Captain Billy's Whiz Bang. However, another account was it came from a notorious madam who operated one of the first brothels to arrive in the oil field who was known as "Whizbang Red". Basically, the oil field workers would say "Let's head over to Whizbang's." and the name stuck. Regardless, if you wanted mail, your address had to read Denoya. The oil attracted every kind of person, honest and dishonest. Whizbang was arguably the wildest of the oil boom towns. Robbery, kidnapping, and shootings where common place. More murders where committed in Whizbang than any other place in the state during it's peak and it was not uncommon to find a body in the street when the sun came up. Lawmen where underpaid and overworked and and in many cases, as corrupt as the criminals they were hired to apprehend. The law paid little attention to "victimless" crimes, such as prostitution, bootlegging, and gambling. Robbery or "hijacking" as it was called then, was very common, and banks, businesses and people were robbed frequently. Oil field workers were regular targets and robbery at the oil rigs themselves was a common occurrence. Life in the oil field was hard, especially in the early days. In addition to the crime and corruption, there where shortages of everything. As the field progressed, oil companies put up simple shacks to house workers, but housing was always in demand. The original oil rigs were all constructed of lumber, so any lumber in the area was snatched up, leaving nothing to construct housing. Transportation and roads were severely lacking. The mud would get so bad during rains that even the mighty Model T was unable to pass. Much of the oil field material and transportation was provided by horse and wagon. Because of this, many farmers leased out their draft animals, making more in a month than they could using them on the farm for a year. As the populaton swelled from a few hundred to over ten thousand, clothing became exceptionally scarce, selling as fast as it would arrive. Oil field work was extremely dirty and hard on the clothes, so the workers would take a steam boiler and make their own steam cleaning devices, basically taking the output of a boiler and feeding it into an enclosed container. They would add a cup of coal oil (kerosine) to the boiler and it would clean the grime from the clothes, supposedly very well. The work was very dangerous, as little or no safety precautions existed, and environmental impacts weren't even considered until the mid 30s. Crime continued to be a problem, resulting in many people taking the law into their own hands. One account tells of a remote oil rig that was robbed several times, and with no action from the law, the workers set up a trap for would be hijackers. The next attempted robbery resulted in the hijackers being hung from the oil derrick and the bodies left up for several days as a warning to others. A sheriff finally showed up and removed the bodies. No arrests where made and the rig was never robbed again. There were rumours of captured hijackers being stuffed into the oil well shafts and then drilling through them. Several stories circulated that remains were found in several of the old storage tanks when they were torn down. Whizbang was built on the boom, and as it came to an end, the town rapidly decreased. As the gas plants began to shut down, jobs went with them. The town was geographically isolated, with no rail service and the main highway was routed through the nearby town of Shidler. The post office closed in September of 1942 and by 1950, the town was all but abandoned. Fire destroyed most of the abandoned business district and only rubble and memories remain.
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4/3/16
Whizbang, Oklahoma, oil boom ghost town
One of the more notorius oil boom towns, Whizbang was founded 1921 in the Burbank Field oil field. The postal service thought the name Whizbang was undignified for a town and when the post office was officially opened on December 31s, 1921, they changed the name to Denoya after a prominent Osage Indian and family in the area. There are several legends concerning where the name of Whizbang came from. The popular version was that it was named after a pulp magazine of the era call Captain Billy's Whiz Bang. However, another account was it came from a notorious madam who operated one of the first brothels to arrive in the oil field who was known as "Whizbang Red". Basically, the oil field workers would say "Let's head over to Whizbang's." and the name stuck. Regardless, if you wanted mail, your address had to read Denoya. The oil attracted every kind of person, honest and dishonest. Whizbang was arguably the wildest of the oil boom towns. Robbery, kidnapping, and shootings where common place. More murders where committed in Whizbang than any other place in the state during it's peak and it was not uncommon to find a body in the street when the sun came up. Lawmen where underpaid and overworked and and in many cases, as corrupt as the criminals they were hired to apprehend. The law paid little attention to "victimless" crimes, such as prostitution, bootlegging, and gambling. Robbery or "hijacking" as it was called then, was very common, and banks, businesses and people were robbed frequently. Oil field workers were regular targets and robbery at the oil rigs themselves was a common occurrence. Life in the oil field was hard, especially in the early days. In addition to the crime and corruption, there where shortages of everything. As the field progressed, oil companies put up simple shacks to house workers, but housing was always in demand. The original oil rigs were all constructed of lumber, so any lumber in the area was snatched up, leaving nothing to construct housing. Transportation and roads were severely lacking. The mud would get so bad during rains that even the mighty Model T was unable to pass. Much of the oil field material and transportation was provided by horse and wagon. Because of this, many farmers leased out their draft animals, making more in a month than they could using them on the farm for a year. As the populaton swelled from a few hundred to over ten thousand, clothing became exceptionally scarce, selling as fast as it would arrive. Oil field work was extremely dirty and hard on the clothes, so the workers would take a steam boiler and make their own steam cleaning devices, basically taking the output of a boiler and feeding it into an enclosed container. They would add a cup of coal oil (kerosine) to the boiler and it would clean the grime from the clothes, supposedly very well. The work was very dangerous, as little or no safety precautions existed, and environmental impacts weren't even considered until the mid 30s. Crime continued to be a problem, resulting in many people taking the law into their own hands. One account tells of a remote oil rig that was robbed several times, and with no action from the law, the workers set up a trap for would be hijackers. The next attempted robbery resulted in the hijackers being hung from the oil derrick and the bodies left up for several days as a warning to others. A sheriff finally showed up and removed the bodies. No arrests where made and the rig was never robbed again. There were rumours of captured hijackers being stuffed into the oil well shafts and then drilling through them. Several stories circulated that remains were found in several of the old storage tanks when they were torn down. Whizbang was built on the boom, and as it came to an end, the town rapidly decreased. As the gas plants began to shut down, jobs went with them. The town was geographically isolated, with no rail service and the main highway was routed through the nearby town of Shidler. The post office closed in September of 1942 and by 1950, the town was all but abandoned. Fire destroyed most of the abandoned business district and only rubble and memories remain.
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