Leach, OK

Leach is an unincorporated community in southwestern Delaware County, strung along U.S. 412 and 412 Alternate between Kansas and Locust Grove. The 2020 census counted 249 residents. The place started under the name Ulm and became Leach on February 20, 1897, taking the name of early settler J. R. Leach. Leach Public School now sits on South 530 Road, giving the community one of its clearest civic addresses.

The highway keeps Leach connected to the nearby towns—Kansas is seven miles east and Locust Grove is sixteen miles west—but the place has its own weather and school stories too. On May 20, 2019, an EF1 tornado tracked from about two miles west of Leach toward the Kansas area, leaving a memorable storm line across Delaware County. The local map stays straightforward: school, highway, and scattered homes tied to the roads between the two neighboring towns. With the CDP spread across 5.8 square miles, Leach's boundaries feel more like a set of addresses than a downtown block.