Pickett, OK

Pickett is a small Pontotoc County community along Oklahoma 19, five miles west of Ada and ten miles east of Stratford. It was first known locally as Center Switch, then took the Pickett name from a store with a well-kept picket fence. The post office operated briefly from 1913 to 1916, but the school lasted longer and became the community’s meeting room, with doors that opened a two-room building into one space for programs.

Pickett’s school joined Latta and Vanoss in 1920, and the area is now served by Vanoss Public Schools. The Vanoss history project describes an older Pickett district with baseball and softball teams, Christmas programs, graduations, and students walking country roads to class. Today Highway 19 ties the community to Ada, where county services, shopping, and larger errands fill out the daily map, while farms and creek country remain close. Pickett’s local scoop is the picket-fence store name that outlasted the post office and carried on through a school-centered community.