Crescent is a city in Logan County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 1,299 as of the 2020 United States census. It is part of the Oklahoma City Metropolitan Statistical Area.

History

Crescent was formed with the Indian Appropriations Act of 1889 on March 2, 1889, and officially started that fall when William Brown began selling general merchandise out of a wagon. Soon he took on a partner, Benjamin Ryland, and the two moved into a log cabin. A post office christened "Crescent City" was established on February 21, 1890, the name taken from a moon-shaped glade where the town began. In November 1891 the town site was platted, and incorporated in 1893. The Denver, Enid and Gulf Railroad laid track one mile (1.6 km) west of the city in 1902, and the city obtained of land from two farmers (C. E. Wells and J. H. Rhoades) creating "new Crescent" or "West Crescent"; eventually the town moved to the new location. Oil was discovered north of town in 1926 and then south of town in 1930 in the "Crescent Oil Field".

On June 20, 1934 the Farmers and Merchants Bank was robbed by a group of men. The group took 13 hostages to help conceal the attempt and to help move the safe. They had the hostages load the safe into the back of a truck and drove the hostages and safe out of town. They ended up leaving both behind, hostages unhurt and safe unopened.

In 1965 the Cimarron Processing Facility was opened by Kerr-McGee (owned through a subsidiary, Kerr-McGee Nuclear Corp.) to convert powdered uranium hexafluoride and plutonium into fuel pellets for use in the nation's nuclear power plants. The site became the center of highly controversial revelations within the petrochemical industry, when in the early 1970s, working conditions and manufacturing practices at the facility became dangerous. The 1983 Oscar-nominated film Silkwood, based around Karen Silkwood (who became contaminated) and her death (in 1974), is a movie about those revelations. In 1976 the facility ceased production. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) stated that the groundwater contamination (near where the company once buried radioactive waste) was rising near the plant and was 400 times higher than federal drinking-water standards allowed in 1989, while levels were 208 to 360 times higher than federal standards in 1985–87. Several cleanup and decommissioning projects have been attempted, with none completed as of 2011.

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, Crescent had a population of 1,299. The median age was 37.6 years; 25.6% of residents were under the age of 18 and 16.4% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 91.3 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 85.6 males age 18 and over.

0% of residents lived in urban areas, while 100.0% lived in rural areas.

There were 532 households in Crescent, of which 33.8% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 40.4% were married-couple households, 18.0% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 32.9% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 31.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

! Race !! Percent

|-

| White || 79.4%

|-

| Black or African American || 3.6%

|-

| American Indian and Alaska Native || 5.1%

|-

| Asian || 0.4%

|-

| Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander || 0%

|-

| Some other race || 0.9%

|-

| Two or more races || 10.5%

|-

| Hispanic or Latino (of any race) || 4.4%

|}

2000 census

As of the census

  • Chelsea Manning, a transgender former United States Army intelligence analyst, convicted by court-martial related to whistleblowing to WikiLeaks, whose sentence was later commuted.
  • Karen Silkwood, a union negotiator and nuclear safety whistleblower who died in a car crash with unclear circumstances.

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Cresent Oklahoma post office.jpg|Crescent Oklahoma post office

Frontier Country Museum in Crescent, Oklahoma.jpg|Frontier Country Museum in Crescent, Oklahoma

The Corner Church BW (26874922878).jpg|Crescent First United Methodist Church

Grain Storage (38915331250).jpg|Grain storage facility in Crescent, Oklahoma.

For Sale (40725926231).jpg|International KB-series farm truck in Crescent, Oklahoma.

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References

  • Crescent Schools website
  • Crescent Website
  • City of Crescent Website
  • Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture - Crescent