Black Springs

Oran is located five miles northeast of Graford on Farm Road 52 in northeastern Palo Pinto County in a grazing and farming area that produces peanuts, corn, small grains, fruits, beef cattle, sheep, and poultry. Early settlers in the area included cattlemen Oliver Loving and George Bevers. Citizens wanted to name the town Black Springs, but the United States Postal Service refused; the name Oran was submitted and approved. It is the opinion of old-timers that the name Oran was selected in honor of Governor Oran M. Roberts. The Oran post office was established in 1886 with Daniel B. Matheny as postmaster. In 1908 several wells began to produce mineral water, and a crystal plant was built to ship the product nationwide. The Weatherford, Mineral Wells and Northwestern Railway, a Texas and Pacific extension, was built into town. Soon Oran had a gin that ran twenty-four hours a day during cotton-picking season, a livery stable, a skating rink, a weekly paper, three churches, a lumberyard, a restaurant, and four general stores. There was also a twenty-room hotel where one could stay for a dollar a day. By 1912 school enrollment had reached 112. A two-story, four-classroom school was built. Through the early 1920s Oran enjoyed continued prosperity, but then the boll weevil began to devastate the cotton industry. The gins were dismantled and moved away, the mineral wells abandoned, the railroad tracks taken up, and the depot dismantled. The school district was consolidated with the Perrin and Graford districts. There was a post office in operation as late as 1967, at which time a population of eighty was reported. No population figures were available in 1990. By 2000 the population was sixty-one.