I was looking at some old maps of Oklahoma and noticed something I had never heard before... From about 1900 to at least 1974 the area which is today West Norman West of I-35 was noted on these maps as "Liberty Township." I was able to confirm this to some extent by finding a now defunct school district around what would today be 60th NW by the same name. More bizarrely, I've recently noticed that several old West Norman businesses have "Liberty" in their names.

Are there any old timers on this board that can provide some details? Was the township ever really a town? Where was the central business area? When did it get annexed into Norman?

I have never heard this story before and it just surprised me so much.

this probably explains it better than i can... Township (United States) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Township_(United_States)) look at 'survey township'

so... downtown okc is in 'oklahoma' township: Historic Map: Page 035 - Oklahoma Township, Oklahoma City, Atlas: Oklahoma County 1907, Oklahoma - Historic Map Works, Residential Genealogy ? (http://www.historicmapworks.com/Map/US/169485/Page+035+++Oklahoma+Township++Oklahoma+City/Oklahoma+County+1907/Oklahoma/)

just south of that in near south okc is 'greeley' township: Historic Map: Page 041 - Greeley Township, Oklahoma City, Atlas: Oklahoma County 1907, Oklahoma - Historic Map Works, Residential Genealogy ? (http://www.historicmapworks.com/Map/US/169488/Page+041+++Greeley+Township++Oklahoma+City/Oklahoma+County+1907/Oklahoma/)

and south of that is (maybe) 'moore' township

and (i'd guess) south of that would be 'liberty' township.

i don't have a map of that but this link shows a liberty township in cleveland county: OK Townships (http://www.okgenweb.org/okprojects/township-name-index.html)

hope that helps! -M

Thanks. They were old survey maps so I bet this was a survey township. I'll look them over again sometime soon and post an update.

I grew up in that general area and lived there from 1947 until 1966. I had never heard of Liberty Township until now even though it might have existed. In grade school I was in the Pleasant Valley district and the school was on the SW corner of Franklin Road and 60th Ave. NW (Western). There was never a town in that area, just farms, and it was not in the Norman city limits until Oklahoma City began their massive annexation and Norman did the same to protect themselves.

i'm still searching for something more definitive but here's a link containing the place name and rough location: Township of Liberty (in Cleveland County, OK) (http://oklahoma.hometownlocator.com/maps/feature-map,ftc,2,fid,1824745,n,township%20of%20liberty.cf m)

based on this, liberty township would be a six mile square north/south from indian hill road to lindsey street and west/east from may ave to bryant (12th ave nw). -M

i'm still searching for something more definitive but here's a link containing the place name and rough location: Township of Liberty (in Cleveland County, OK) (http://oklahoma.hometownlocator.com/maps/feature-map,ftc,2,fid,1824745,n,township%20of%20liberty.cf m)

based on this, liberty township would be a six mile square north/south from indian hill road to lindsey street and west/east from may ave to bryant (12th ave nw). -M

The center of the area on that map is exactly where I lived but I never once heard anyone refer to that name even if it was some kind of legal designation.