Washington County, OK
Eldridge
(formerly Brush Creek, Midway)
Enos Parsons started a post office in 1872 at this ford across Brush Creek, naming it for his Cherokee wife Mary Eldridge. (Mary's Cherokee heritage would have allowed a non-Indian such as Parsons to settle in Indian Territory.) In 1895 Job Beaver Parker started a large farm here and his impressive home became a voting site of the Cooweescoowee District and a Delaware meeting site. This was also the site of Monfort's 1898 stage station, midway along the route from Bartlesville to Caney, Kansas. When a telephone wire was strung from Caney to Bartles' store, Midway had the first telephone in the county.
