Route 66 - Foyil, Oklahoma

Foyil, Oklahoma is tiny, absolutely tiny. In the 2000 census, there were only 68 families, 97 households, and 234 people in the town. However, over the next decade, the population grew by almost 50%, reaching a booming 344 - the largest population Foyil has had since its first U.S. census in 1920.

The area used to be part of the Cherokee Nation, but like much of the rest of the American Midwest, the railway brought a small and thriving settlement of rail workers and, in 1890, a postmaster, Alfred Foyil. The town was built on his farmland, and with the addition of a general store (also owned by Foyil), a chemist, and a furniture shop by 1898, then a bank in 1905, Foyil might have been small (at around 150 residents), but it was perfectly formed. In 1911, it was home to - amongst others - two doctors, two blacksmiths, a lawyer, nine teachers, and even its own newspaper.

Route 66 helped the small town survive, but like many other small communities, boom and recession affected the size of the population. However, in 1937, Foyil started to garner fame as the home of a rather strange and wonderful piece of folk art - the world's largest totem pole. Nathan Edward Galloway's concrete construction wasn't finished until 1948. Although it was hailed as a wonderful monument to the former Native American history of the area, Galloway later stated it was just to give him "something to do" in retirement.



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