Davis, OK

Davis is a Murray County city with a small extension into Garvin County, set between Ardmore and Pauls Valley in the Arbuckle Mountains. The 2020 census counted 2,823 residents. Samuel H. Davis moved his dry-goods store from Washita to the present town site in 1890, then persuaded the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway to put a depot near his business. A post office followed that year, and Davis incorporated in 1898.

The city’s best-known landmark sits five miles south: Turner Falls, where Honey Creek drops into a swimming pool inside Turner Falls Park. Davis took over the park’s operation in 1919 and purchased 370 acres around it in 1925, turning a natural feature into a city-sized calling card. Back downtown, the remodeled 1907 Santa Fe Depot houses the Arbuckle Historical Society museum. Davis is a rail town, a mountain town, and the place people use when they are headed to the falls; all three versions fit. The depot is still downtown.