Witcher Refinery in NE OKC

[Swalell1960]

I’m looking for info on the old refinery that sat near what is now the 1-35/44 interchange. It’s large gone now but a few structures remain. I’m curious about how long it was there, what it’s purpose was, and who operated it. Anybody know anything or know someone who might? Or other suggestions for research? It’s the area that had a grass fire over the recent weekend (early December), but that’s mostly coincidental.

[Pete]

The old Witcher Refinery is outlined below, on the SE corner of NE 122nd and Sooner.

It is a superfund cleanup site and is presently owned by the U.S. government.

[Swalell1960]

Thanks Pete! The area that specifically interests me is marked on this pic. For decades this facility, which I think may have been owned or operated by Texaco at some point, was fairly tall, like 3 or 4 stories and stood at the top op the hill not too far from the Haunted House Restaurant. The foundations, pipeline infrastructure, and Art Deco (ish) office remain there yet.

It may have been associated with the refinery associated with the superfund site near 122nd, but I don’t recall a facility at that location so it seems confusing.

Since my family and I grew up on a next-door homestead, we are curious to find information about its function, when it was installed, and of course, if it’s the explanation for the third arms growing out of all of our chests, lolz…

[Pete]

^

All the property you highlighted is now owned by various private investors.

The site I outlined was specifically called "Witcher Refinery" and is still a superfund site owned by the federal govenment.

[catch22]

Here is the 1969 aerial view, courtesy of Pete and OKCTalk.

https://www.okctalk.com/showthread.php?t=30882



I think that map may be mislabled, as it says NE63rd but that actually looks like Wilshire. But towards the bottom of that image should be your refinery. It doesn't look like a very big operation. Are you sure it was a refinery?

[Swalell1960]

Here is the 1969 aerial view, courtesy of Pete and OKCTalk.

https://www.okctalk.com/showthread.php?t=30882



I think that map may be mislabled, as it says NE63rd but that actually looks like Wilshire. But towards the bottom of that image should be your refinery. It doesn't look like a very big operation. Are you sure it was a refinery?

Courtesy valued and appreciated!

It is mislabeled indeed, but does show what we referred to as "the refinery," which I'm guessing was really more of a midstream type thing, or pumping station. It was a malodorous and sometimes noisy area but just sort of taken for granted, as things were in those days. Our family 89er homestead (and home to this day} is the quarter-section in the area NE of Wilshire (the real one) and Bryant, which has the confluence of Beaver Creek and the Deep Fork--Both of which are directly down hill and down stream of the Witcher facility. The Superfund location is not where the "refinery" was. So, I'm just wondering if there was a spill many decades ago, or repeated bad management, or something like that.

Just curious. Kind of an eye opener to realize a superfund site is very much among the family properties,

[catch22]

I have no concept of the world in 1969. I wasn’t even a thought for another 24 years. Did small scale refineries exist back then? Perhaps serving just a handful of gas stations nearby?

Nowadays a refinery has capacity in the hundreds of millions of barrels complete with rail access and a maze of pipelines. As I thought about it more, maybe things were indeed more local back then even in industry applications?

[mkjeeves]

I don’t know the full answer to your question but I do know there was more than one small “refinery” in OKC metro. I followed the Double Eagle site at Reno and MLK for awhile because I was distantly related to people who owned it at one time and more closely related to someone who worked there in the ‘40s-50s. They refined used motor oil, with the government being a large customer I was told. (Tinker) Take their used oil, refine it and sell it back.

https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/Si...01029#bkground

Edit to add: Guess I was wrong. My peeps were apparently involved in the Fourth Street Refinery next to the Double Eagle. Here’s a list of a few other local refineries and superfund sites. https://www.deq.ok.gov/land-protecti...uperfund-site/

[catch22]

https://docs.oklahomacounty.org/Asse...pertyID=119530

Peppers Refining Company owned this property from 1911 to 1987, selling to Midstates Pipeline Company who owned it until 1991. Finlay Energy owned it from 1991 and sold it to Associated Natural Gas Inc who is the present owner of the land.

The Occupant is listed as Witcher Station Communications Center.

Here is a snippet of a sale document where 3 properties were sold from Union Pacific Resource Company (formerly Champlin Petroleum Company). I see that Peppers dissolved in 1957, so I think this property was sold at auction or possibly bankruptcy to Union Pacific Resource Company sometime then and they held it until 1987 along with some other properties. This snippet is from the sale in 1987 to Midstates Pipeline.



Here it is labeled as a Compressor Station. My understanding is that this was not a refinery, the products managed here were refined elsewhere and processed/compressed here at Witcher. I have a limited understanding of that process so maybe one of the O&G guys on this forum can chime in. I will message PhiAlpha and see if he knows anything about this process that may shed some light on what this facility actually could have done.

Below is a link to the full sale document for some light reading.

https://www.okcc.online/index.php?book=5651&page=1801

[Swalell1960]

Great input! The Superfund site does describe it as Witcher Refinery (non-site), which does not really explain much. Also, the MKT was right there, with a siding.

[mugofbeer]

I have a vague recollection of seeing it over the trees driving by the refinery location. I may be dreaming but l seem to remember seeing a gas burnoff flame when l was a kid.

[oklip955]

Speaking of 1969 and that photo, Just above 63rd st per photo label on the west side of the highway (now I 35) was a Mobil gas station. (former Statuary World or something similar) Still visible to the far south side of the property is the foundation of the old ice house. Back then some RV's had refrigerators and some Ice boxes) In the summer of 1969 my family took a 3 month vacation with our travel trailer. For some reason I still remember stopping there for gas and buying a huge block of ice. The trailer had a refrigerator and not an ice box. I think maybe we also had a large cooler. Anyway, I do remember buying ice from that station and going to the ice house to pick it up. I dont remember any refineries in the area. We were traveling west from the turnpike to I40 and back to California.

[Swalell1960]

There was a Mobil there, and a Texaco. The Texaco was run for years by Paul Shaeffer, iirc. And Kerr-McGee on the west side. And then Truckers Village was a nearby fixture as well. This pic is looking south on "NE Expressway," now I-35/44, from around Britton Road with Wilshire crossing side-to-side across the middle.

[Swalell1960]

It was a prominent location, for our local terrain anyway. It looked like a really big HVAC cooling station, but with petroleum.

[T. Jamison]

Here is a quote from a U.S. House Committee conference from 1965.

Prior to 1954 Champlin Refining Company under its former management did compete successfully as an independent refiner and marketer Its business prospered When we took over the management of that company in 1954 we were confronted with the problem of modernizations in both the refinery and marketing operations which we felt were needed to continue to compete effectively Specifically we upgraded and modernized the Enid refinery by installing a platformer catalytic cracking unit and alkalization and coking plants These improvements permitted Champlin to manufacture the required yields of the high quality petroleum products demanded by the motor vehicle engines of today This refinery has a through put capacity of about 31,000 barrels per day We anticipate still further modernizing of our manufacturing facilities At the time we took over the management of Champlin the company had a second refinery located in Oklahoma City and known as the Peppers Refinery It was a 3,000 barrel per day plan which because of advanced technology in the field of petroleum refining had simply become obsolete Convinced that a refinery that small could not justify the installation of the necessary modern equipment to be competitive in today's product markets we closed the Peppers Refinery and built a products pipeline from the Enid refinery to the Oklahoma City market area.

[catch22]

Great find!

[Swalell1960]

Here is a quote from a U.S. House Committee conference from 1965.

Nice work! All that tracks with what I know of the lore. The super structure of the thing lingered into the 70's I think.

But still, the connection to the Superfund declaration.

[T. Jamison]

So far as I can tell, it is not an active superfund site. I printed this map from the ODEQ website, and it does not show a superfund site. It also doesn't show a superfund site at the NE 122nd Street "Witcher Refinery" either, nor is it listed on the ODEQ website. I'm having a hard time tracking anything down on the NE 122nd Street site.

[Swalell1960]

So far as I can tell, it is not an active superfund site. I printed this map from the ODEQ website, and it does not show a superfund site. It also doesn't show a superfund site at the NE 122nd Street "Witcher Refinery" either, nor is it listed on the ODEQ website. I'm having a hard time tracking anything down on the NE 122nd Street site.

Thanks for checking into it. I'm not finding much either but I did find another picture of the site in 1959, coincidentally because of a grass fire that was in the same place as the one a couple weeks ago. This, and the 1969 aerial show tower contraption and some lovely looking capture ponds, lolz...

Anyhoo, thanks all!

[catch22]

Just a side note: I find it fascinating how records disappear over time. This wasn't 300 years ago. There were planning discussions, building permits, leases, construction contracts, etc., and after really not much time at all, it all fades into the background of nothingness. It will be interesting to see how this changes in the future, or if it does change. This site is an incredible wealth of information down to very fine detail. In 60 years from now will the images still load? Will the site and its info still exist in any renderable form? Will all of this present-day knowledge we build on this site also fade into the background?

An interesting thought experiment to me.

I hope this thread answered some questions for you!

[Swalell1960]

It did, but I have more!

It is indeed an interesting experiment, and will last as long as there is electricity, at least—I hope!

This is all part of a larger over all look at the “Witcher” area, as in a writing project. The NE Expressway’s origin is another element, and the Katy RR came through that area as well. Biggest question for me on the NE Expressway is what was there before? As far as I know it was built over virgin ground from Lincoln to 122nd. Anyhoo, diff thread.

[T. Jamison]

Just a side note: I find it fascinating how records disappear over time. This wasn't 300 years ago. There were planning discussions, building permits, leases, construction contracts, etc., and after really not much time at all, it all fades into the background of nothingness. It will be interesting to see how this changes in the future, or if it does change. This site is an incredible wealth of information down to very fine detail. In 60 years from now will the images still load? Will the site and its info still exist in any renderable form? Will all of this present-day knowledge we build on this site also fade into the background?

An interesting thought experiment to me.

I hope this thread answered some questions for you!

I imagine if someone were inclined to spend gratuitous amounts of energy, one could find these things. While not easily accessible online, The City of Oklahoma City likely would have physical copies of the planning meetings and permits available somewhere. I like to think that any information is ascertainable with enough elbow grease. But it certainly isn't always true, I'm just optimistic.

Based on a previous post on this thread, I think we are pretty close to the same age. In the event that all the information on this site is lost, you and I and many others on this site have obtained knowledge of things before our time that we can pass on to keep some of it alive. I work in a field where most of my peers are 3 to 4 times my age. When they get to talking, I listen and try to retain as much of the information as I can. I am not from Oklahoma City, but knowledge of this city is a competitive advantage in my field, so these sorts of things are important to me. But I digress.

Hopefully the availability and accessibility of information continues to improve over time and OKCTalk/Pete never dies.

[T. Jamison]

It did, but I have more!

It is indeed an interesting experiment, and will last as long as there is electricity, at least—I hope!

This is all part of a larger over all look at the “Witcher” area, as in a writing project. The NE Expressway’s origin is another element, and the Katy RR came through that area as well. Biggest question for me on the NE Expressway is what was there before? As far as I know it was built over virgin ground from Lincoln to 122nd. Anyhoo, diff thread.

If you have any other questions, feel free to reach out. I love a good mystery and the hunt to find the answers. It's like a hobby of mine rooted in obsessive compulsion. Unanswered questions make my antsy.