Slapout, Oklahoma

Slapout
Unincorporated community
Slapout Slapout Location within the state of Oklahoma
Coordinates: 36°36′56″N 100°6′29″W / 36.61556°N 100.10806°WCoordinates: 36°36′56″N 100°6′29″W / 36.61556°N 100.10806°W
Country	United States
State	Oklahoma
County	Beaver
Elevation	2,450 ft (750 m)
Population (2000)
• Total	8
Time zone	Central (CST) (UTC-6)
• Summer (DST)	CDT (UTC-5)

Slapout, Oklahoma

Slapout is a small unincorporated community in Beaver County, Oklahoma, United States. The land upon which part of the town sits was homesteaded by Joseph L. Johnston. It sits on the northwest corner of the land Johnson had acquired with a government claim in 1904, three years before Oklahoma became a state.

With the construction of Highway Three across Oklahoma during the Great Depression, Tom Lemmons, who had bought the Johnson homestead, moved a chicken coop to where the highway passed his land. In the chicken coop he started a store. He told the Tulsa Tribune he had nothing else to do during the depression, so he thought he'd start a town. He named his town Nye, after the Progressive U.S. Senator Gerald Nye (R-ND).

The name Slapout, according to local legend, came about because customers at the store in Nye were often told by Lemmon's sister that the store was "slapout" of whatever they wanted.^[1] Tom Lemmons insisted his sister never used the phrase. However, the name stuck. When Tom continued to insist his side of the highway was called Nye, patrons responded that the south side of the highway could be "Slapout" and the north side with Lemmon's store was "Nye Out."

Tom Lemmons finally gave in when a tornado came through town and only took out his Nye sign. After that the both sides were known as Slapout. At one time, the town had 10 inhabitants and included the Hagan Grocery on the south side of the highway. Lemmons also built a building to house his rock collection.

Today the gas station in the town is a regular stop for Tulsa and Oklahoma City skiers traveling to Colorado.

The town was featured in a newspaper photo essay by Robert R. Mercer in the Tulsa Tribune in the 1970s.

References

1. Shirk, George H. Oklahoma Place Names, Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1965, p.193.

Mercer, Robert R.; photojournalist & chair, journalism department, Cypress College, Cypress, CA