Blood, Trauma, and Biohazard Cleanup in Laverne, OK

Laverne is a town in southwestern Harper County, Oklahoma, at the intersection of U.S. Highway 283 and State Highway 149, twenty-three miles southwest of Buffalo and 179 miles northwest of Oklahoma City.

Laverne is the largest community in Harper County, even though the county seat is Buffalo.

Laverne's origin is traced to John Mollman's homestead, which he established in 1903 when the site was still in Woodward County, Oklahoma Territory.

A post office named Laverne operated northwest of the present townsite from 1898 until 1908, when its mail was rerouted to the now-defunct Speedmore post office.

Mollman sold part of his acreage to a townsite promoter in 1911; the land was platted and lots sold, and when the old Laverne post office was moved to the new village in May 1912, the community took the name Laverne.

The Wichita Falls and Northwestern Railway, a Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway (Katy) subsidiary, reached Laverne in the spring of 1912, and by June 1912 the town had approximately forty-four businesses, including the Laverne State Bank.

Two of Laverne's earliest buildings, the Fox Hotel and the Clover Hotel, both built in 1912, are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Laverne's economy was long based on agriculture, with broomcorn, wheat, and cattle as the leading products until 1920; hay later replaced broomcorn as that market largely disappeared.

During a 1950s oil boom Laverne was nicknamed the Oil Capital of Northwest Oklahoma, and its population grew from 1,269 in 1950 to a peak of 1,937 in 1960.

The Katy railroad stopped service to Laverne in 1972, but children from Harper, Ellis, and Beaver counties still attend the Laverne public schools.