| Railroad Name: | Muskogee Roads |
| Logo Filename: | MrLogo.JPG |
| System Map: | MuskogeeRoads_Map.PNG |
| Map Size: | 300 |
| Marks: | none |
| Locale: | Arkansas, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas |
| Start Year: | 1923 |
| End Year: | 1964 |
| Successor Line: | Texas and Pacific |
| Hq City: | Muskogee, Oklahoma |
The Muskogee Roads was the colloquial name for a system of railroads under common management operationally headquartered in Muskogee, Oklahoma and controlled by the Muskogee Company of Philadelphia.[1] The Muskogee Roads were the only Class I railroads to be headquartered in Oklahoma and had a major impact on the development and livelihood of the region.
The Muskogee Roads were the Midland Valley Railroad, the Kansas, Oklahoma and Gulf Railway, 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 to Hartford, Arkansas.[2] The Ingersoll group sold the line in 1902, but then decided to build a new line from Wichita, Kansas to Ft. Smith, Arkansas. The resulting Midland Valley Railroad Company was chartered in 1903, and the whole line was finished by 1906.[3] 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 to Baxter Springs, Kansas.[4] 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, 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.