24/7 Trauma and Biohazard Cleanup in Prue, OK

Prue is a town in southern Osage County, about 46 miles south of Pawhuska and 30 miles northwest of Tulsa.

Prue is named for Henry Prue, who owned the original townsite.

Prue grew up as a railroad settlement after the Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma Railroad — later part of the Katy system — extended its line through the townsite in 1902 and 1903.

Oil exploration around Prue began about 1911, and the Prue Field opened east-northeast of town in 1920 became a major source of natural gas.

Ground was broken for Keystone Dam in December 1956, and by the time the dam was completed in 1964, Lake Keystone covered about 90 percent of the original Prue townsite.

Because the old townsite went under the lake, Prue was relocated north-northeast to its present site and is often called 'New Prue,' while the original town lies beneath Lake Keystone.

Railroad service to Prue ended in 1964, the same year the dam was finished.

Prue was not counted separately by the census until 1970, when it had 271 residents; its population peaked at 554 in 1980.

The 2020 census counted 374 people in Prue, and the town occupies only about 0.4 square miles on the Arkansas River arm of Lake Keystone.