Oil City

Grimshaw was located a few miles northwest of Bunger between R.J. Dowell Survey Abstract No. 2215 and A.J. Driver Survey Abstract No. 1980. THe town was named for landowner, Amos Grimshaw.

The oil boom town sprang up when oil was discovered on the land by the fall of 1917 in a test well. The oil boom in Young County began in South Bend in 1917 and the resources of the drillers centered in that area until the move began.

County records seem to indicate that Grimshaw began booming by 1919 when progression of oil drilling seemed to move east. Amos Grimshaw platted the town in 1920 and due to the oil wells, the town would change their name to "Oil City." Young County records show a plat for Oil City in October 1921. Lots sold in the town for a record $1,000 each.

By 1922, County records show an estimated population of 1,500. The town had drug stores, post office, hotels, mercantile houses, theatre, newspaper, and one church building.

With three disastrous fires in 1922 and 1923 and the production of oil, the town did not exist in 1927.

The post office was located at Grimshaw from 1922 to 1925 according to Federal records and Henry Schlittler, Sr. carried the mail from Graham to Grimshaw as a rural carrier.

Nothing remains at the site of Grimshaw or Oil City today.

submitted by: Dorman Holub