Evolution of Central Places over Time: an Analysis of the Changes Within the Towns of North Central Oklahoma

Abstract

This study explored the evolution of the historical and current urban economic systems of north central Oklahoma. Of particular interest in this study were the towns that were created or benefited from the development of the five major oil fields found within the study area. The study was comprised of three major components. A historical analysis was used to establish the initial economic basis of every settlement occurring within the study area. Two different spatial analyzes were then employed to evaluate the patterns found within the towns' market areas and the average Euclidian nearest neighbor distances between the towns. Finally, several social and demographic analyzes were completed that compared the characteristics of the surviving oil boom towns with those that had not experienced a similar oil based economic boom. This study identified the location and the origin of 205 towns in Creek, Lincoln, Payne, and Pawnee counties. Four unique urban spatial systems were identified. It was found that the smallest centers were the most volatile in the system and that the survivability of a town over the evolution of the spatial system was closely tied to the location of the transportation system. The high population density of the oil fields was found to be the main catalyst in the development of the oil towns but the long term survivability of these towns was also tied to the transportation network. A demographic analysis revealed that the only substantial difference between the surviving oil boom towns and non-oil boom towns was in the housing characteristics. It was also determined that the oil industry was still a vital part of many of the oil boom towns' economies and that only a few oil towns had considerably diversified their economies over the past eighty years.