Looking like a wild-west movie set, this local photo from the 1890s depicts downtown Tuttle in its early stages.
James H. Tuttle came to this area in the late 1870s to run cattle. Silver City was a hotspot on the Chisholm Trail, through which millions of cattle were herded from 1867 through the Land Run of 1889. After that, landowners fenced their ranges, making the trail impossible, and railroad expansion westward made the trail unnecessary.
The town of Tuttle was born a couple of miles south and bears J.H. Tuttle’s name. The village of Silver City is gone now — except for the cemetery where these early Tuttle luminaries are buried.
According to Grady County Archives, James H. Tuttle was described as “a fine representative of the men whose shrewd foresight and determined energy opened the way for the settlement of Oklahoma” and became the town’s namesake. Chickasaw land was purchased in 1901 for the town site.
This historic image was provided by historian Judy Hogan, a member of the Tuttle Historical Society.
The Tuttle Then and Now gallery displayed at the First National Bank & Trust Co. in Tuttle was designed to commemorate the people and places that make Tuttle unique. FNBT has been an independent community bank serving central and southwest Oklahoma since 1892.