Emergency Crime Scene and Biohazard Cleanup in Redbird, OK

Redbird is a town in Wagoner County, about five miles southeast of Coweta, and one of only thirteen surviving historically all-Black towns in Oklahoma, out of more than fifty that were founded in the state.

The community grew from the Barber and Ruffin families, who settled the area before 1900; E. L. Barber organized Redbird's First Baptist Church in 1889 and later served as justice of the peace and as a mayor of the town.

Redbird obtained a post office by 1902, and the Red Bird Investment Company advertised across the South to recruit African American families to settle there.

More than 600 people attended Redbird's grand opening celebration on August 10, 1907, the year Oklahoma became a state.

Redbird's population peaked at 411 in the 1950 census, after an earlier high of 336 in 1920, but the 2020 census counted just 89 residents.

Redbird's decline began with falling cotton prices in the years before the Great Depression, earlier than the downturn that hit most Oklahoma farm towns.

In its post-World War II rebound years, Redbird supported seven churches, general stores, eight juke joints and a gas station.

Two Redbird landmarks — Miller Washington High School, planned in 1919 by Professor J. F. Cathey and in operation until 1959, and Red Bird City Hall — are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Former mayor I. W. Lane challenged a Wagoner County law that had made it difficult for Black residents to register to vote.

Redbird covers about 0.8 square miles, and after years of decline and the closure of its post office, the town has seen a modest rebirth as new families buy homes drawn by its low crime and quiet pace of life.