Medicine Park is a historic resort community on the eastern fringe of the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge. A young lawyer named Elmer Thomas, who later became an Oklahoma state senator, set up a tourist camp there in 1908. Teddy Roosevelt dedicated the 60,000-acre wildlife refuge just two or three years earlier. The town became the gateway to the wildlife refuge. It is a lovely town, which straddles both sides of the Medicine Creek. Paths run along both sides of the creek, with bridges making both sides easily accessible. The plentiful supply of rough red granite boulders made the perfect inexpensive building materials for the town. In the process the "cobblestone" created the town's distinctive look/identity. You will find curbs, archways, lamp posts, columns, storefronts, and houses made from the round boulders.
The town rose to prominence during Prohibition. Authorities seemed to look the other way in Medicine Park. You were able to enjoy a drink and engage in the nightlife of the day. Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys made frequent appearances in town, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans too. More notoriously, Al Capone, Bonnie and Clyde, and Pretty Boy Floyd added more color to the town's history. It is a cute historic town but the reason to go is still the magnificent wildlife refuge just to the west. Fabulous scenery, hiking trails, herds of buffalo, elk and Texas Longhorns are a delight. Mount Scott, the second tallest mountain in the Wichita Mountains, towers over the town of Medicine Park. You can hike or drive to the top for breathtaking views of Medicine Park, the lake north of the city and the wildlife refuge to the west.
Take a walk with Birkenstock.
