A tale of two towns: Two die so one can live

As reported in arts I-I I, Jeff’s King’s Town, King’s Chapel, aka, Kingston, was founded in 1894. Jeff King’s Town was about two miles southwest of the current Kingston. It was a good-sized town with a school, several businesses, and a fair number of inhabitants. Then in 1900, the Frisco Railroad began laying a line through IndianTerritoryandthatline bypassed Kingston by about two miles to the northeast.

J.HampWillis,whoowned a business in Kingston, then moved his business to his land two miles northeast, where the Frisco Railroad would pass. He then founded the town of Helen, named after his young daughter, Helen.

Helen was a big town with almost 1000 residents. Helen had everything a town would want. Many businesses, a bank, hotels, a newspaper, a school and a railroad. However, Helen didn’t have a post office. The postal service denied their request for a post office because there was already a post office in another town in Indian Territory called Helena.

So, while Helen had everything a town needed, it didn’t have a post office. On the other hand, Kingston had most everything a town could want, businesses, a school, a fair number of residents, and a post office, but no railroad. Oklahoma history is littered with towns that boomed, but then died, because the railroad went to a different town. Railroads were almost a necessity back in those days. Towns with a railroad boomed; towns without died.

To resolve the dilemma of a railroad in one town and a post office in the other, the Kingston Post office was moved to Helen. When that occurred, the remaining businesses in Kingston moved to Helen. Kingston was all but gone. Jeff King’s Town essentially ceased to exist and Kingston pretty much died, absorbed by Helen.

However, the post office retained the name of Kingston, even though it was now in Helen. That then created a confusing situation where the town was named Helen, the train station was named Helen, but the post office was designated Kingston.

Folks in Helen were in Kingston. Folks in Kingston were in Helen. So, two towns became one town with two names. As could be expected, this caused great confusion. Things shipped by rail were shipped to Helen. Things shippedbymailwereshipped to Kingston. Mail that came on the train - was it Helen or Kingston?Itwasahugemess.

In 1906, the two towns that were one town were at a crossroads, so to speak. The two-town identity wasn’t working.

In an attempt resolve the problem, the town of Helen petitioned the Frisco Railroad to rename the train station to Kingston. The Frisco Railroad agreed and in 1906, Helen’s station was renamed Kingston. So now, Helen had a post office designated as “Kingston” and a rail depot/station designated as “Kingston.” However, the town was still called Helen.

OnNovember2,1906,Helen was legally incorporated under the name “Kingston” and Helen was no more. Two towns died and became one - Kingston.

So, for anybody who is from present day Kingston, or have ever lived in what is now known as Kingston, whiletheyarefromKingston, they could also say they are from Helen. For, Kingston is Helen and Helen is Kingston. Two towns that died and became one.