Team Documents 'Abandoned Oklahoma' Towns

By Dan Bewley, The News On 6

BLACKBURN, OK -- Four Oklahoma men are on a quest to document abandoned buildings and towns across the Sooner state. Their goal is to keep history alive for generations to come.

On Friday, the team was in the town of Blackburn in Pawnee County.

Justin Tyler Moore helped found AbandonedOK.com. He and his crew travel across the state taking pictures and gathering the histories of old or abandoned buildings and towns.

"Take nothing but photographs and leave nothing but footprints," said Moore.

Each guy is 20-something and a native Oklahoman. They say this effort is a way to stay in touch with their past while preserving it for future generations.

Abandoned Oklahoma: Blackburn

"And we want to show the history to the people that don't know anything about it," said Cody Cooper, Abandoned Oklahoma.

Moore's travels have taken them on a tour through Oklahoma history, from an abandoned circus in Edmond to the old Savoy Hotel in Nowata. He hopes his pictures stir the memories of those who lived or worked in the forgotten places of Oklahoma's past.

"It's important that we get the word out there to the young people and to people our age about Oklahoma's history or else it will die and not go on," said Moore.