Miami, Oklahoma History

I’m Ron Enderland. I was born in Miami, Oklahoma, at Miami Baptist Hospital, a long time ago. I moved out of town at age eight, but Miami is still my hometown, and it always will be. It’s had its ups and downs, financially speaking, but it’s on an upturn now. Still, I want to remember it as it was, and many agree with that sentiment. Thus, I’ve created this site, loaded with photos and history of the place.

It has a searchable database of businesses over the years. I’m estimating that it has 85-90% of Miami’s businesses between 1919 and 1968, and I’m still adding the missing ones. It’s mostly the result of researching the Miami News-Record, and I only have access to papers up to 1968 at this point. But still, it has over 2000 businesses listed, and can be a fine asset for helping you to track down who was located where and when.

Also, check out Miami’s Postcard Past. This section has, at the moment, twenty postcards which open up in good-sized resolution. And for your pleasure, you can get full-sized scans of five Main Street postcards, suitable for desktop wallpaper or for printing.

Check out virtual tours of North Main, South Main, and Central. Also, visit the lost businesses of East and West A Streets. We also have a growing listing of other significant business buildings, and a page devoted to urban exploration.

View of Miami looking north from the First National Bank building, 1966. Used with permission.

This is where the site could use your help. If you have historical pics of Miami and wouldn’t object to me using them here, please send them my way. You can either email enderland(@)gmail.com or use the form.

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Total Records Found: 2101, showing 5 per page
Business Name	Business Address	Date First Seen There	Business Type	Notes
John's Radio Service	120 S Main	1947	Services
Frank Lair Motor Co.	125 S Main	1935	Auto Sales	Also Miami Auto Salvage at the same time here
Ottawa Sales Co.	119 S Main	1927	Retail
Don Sweem Auto Repair Shop	119 S Main	1926	Auto Repair
Martin's Shoe Shop	110 S Main	1929	Retail

Full-Sized Postcard Views of Main Street

North Main, 1965

South Main, 1959

South Main, 1955

South Main, 1940

North Main, 1925

Other Local Historical Resources

Cardin Kids – A Comprehensive History of NE Oklahoma

Ottawa County, Oklahoma, Vintage Photographs from Yesteryear

Dobson Museum – Ottawa County Historical Society

Literally Letty (much Miami history)

Special thanks to the Miami Chamber of Commerce, the Dobson Museum, and to John Schehrer for providing many historical photographs!

The Bald Guy IT Solutions

Copyright notice: some of these images are in the public domain. Some have been contributed by others for use on the site, with the understanding that saving internet images is trivial. That being said, if you’d like to use any of the site graphics, my permission is required. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. COPYRIGHT 2018.