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| Lake Hefner Area 1941 |
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A Personal History
of Lake Hefner
This information about the property where the Lake Hefner Reservation now exists was provided by a descendant of one of the original land owners. I thank him for sharing his story with us. – Ed.
The homestead was staked in the land run by Maggie Gossin in 1889. Maggie's claim was the NW 1/4 of Section 25, bordered by what would be Portland and Hefner Road. Maggie Gossin was the first schoolteacher in Britton. She taught school at first in a small building on the homestead before a new school was built.
She married Ollie Gray in 1892 and they merged their land and later bought out other relatives on neighboring property. Ollie Gray's father's homestead lies in the middle of the lake on the NE 1/4 of Section 35 or 36 which would be bordered by what is Britton Road and Portland. In fact my family owned 550 acres in 1940 that are now covered by the lake and the parkway.
You can actually see the remains of the 1889 homestead of Maggie Gray on the northeast side of the lake. The lake has now receded to expose the foundations of the buildings on this farm. The area is near the spillway (probably 100 yards west of the shoreline) and is marked by a post, as this is normally a shallow area even when the lake is full.
If you go out to see the site, you will see the cellar steps filled in with mud, as well as many other foundations of buildings. The Gray's were one of the last families to move in 1942 as the water was filling the lake. The reason why there are still foundations is they didn't have time to demolish everything so they moved the home and burned the rest of the buildings where they stood. My dad recently visited the site and found an old stove handle.
My grandmother always said the government had promised Maggie that the lake would only be used for public use.
If you go to the Oklahoma History Museum they have a map of the original 1889 homesteaders of Spring Creek Township, which includes Lake Hefner. It is interesting to see how neighbors became relatives, as people tended to meet people in closer proximity to their homes. At various points between 1889 and 1940 my family and their future in-laws owned 11 1/4 sections covered by the lake, parkway, the Albertson's at May and Britton, as well as the 1/2 section directly south of the Albertson's.
Please note that this information was gleaned from a number of letters from the author and while I have attempted to leave the information in the author’s words I have rearranged the order of some of his passages for clarity. – Ed.
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