Jones & Plummer Trail Museum

08/28/2026

Peggy Morrison

08/28/2026

08/22/2026

THE AMERICAN LEGION IS AT THE MUSEUM TODAY. IF YOU ARE A VETERAN WHO MAY BE INTERESTED IN JOINING THE BEAVER AMERICAN LEGION, POST #149, COME IN AND VISIT!!

08/21/2026

Sherry Jenkins

08/21/2026

THE PHOTOS ARE SCENES FROM THE SALOON, SHOOTOUT, AND HANGING FROM THE CIMARRON TERRITORY CELEBRATION IN 1971.
HOW MANY PEOPLE DO YOU RECOGNIZE??

PHOTOS COURTESY OF TONY MCFARLAND

08/18/2026

THE BEAVER COUNTY FAIR/COW CHIP THROW IS ALMOST HERE!

THE MUSEUM WILL BE OPEN, SO COME IN AND LOOK AROUND.
ONE OF THE DISPLAYS WILL BE THE ARTWORK OF TONY MCFARLAND AND MACKENZIE MCFARLAND. A MUST SEE!

SINCE JANUARY, WE HAVE HAD VISITORS FROM TWENTY-TWO (22) STATES AND FROM AUSTRALIA. WE LOOK FORWARD TO HAVING EVEN MORE VISITORS OVER THE COMING WEEK!

07/11/2026

The Beaver County Historical Society will have a meeting on Sunday the 12th, at 2:30, at the Jones and Plummer Trail Museum.
Everyone is welcome to attend!

07/04/2026

DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF THOSE WHO DIED IN THE DEFENSE OF OUR COUNTRY FROM BEAVER COUNTY, OKLAHOMA. NOVEMBER 11, 1988 BEAVER COUNTY AMERICAN LEGION POST #149

07/03/2026

Happy 4th of July!
from the Beaver County Historical Society

07/02/2026

IRVIN NEWTON THOMPSON
May 9, 1893-December 6, 1934

Irvin Newton Thompson was born on May 9, 1893, in Sebastian, Arkansas, to William and Georgia Thompson. The Thompson family moved to the Balko Township, Beaver County, Oklahoma, where they lived until 1920.

After leaving Beaver County, Irvin changed his name to “Blackie” and started a life of crime with the likes of Bonnie and Clyde, Wh**ey Walker, and other notorious gangsters of the 1920s and 1930s. His first crime was in 1920 when he stole an automobile, resulting in a five-year sentence at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, Oklahoma. After being paroled in 1922, he robbed another bank and was re-arrested in 1923. He was sent back to the McAlester prison.

In 1924, the Bureau of Investigation, now the Federal Bureau of Investigation, commuted his sentence on the condition he would act as an undercover informant to aid in the solving of the Osage Indian murders in Osage County, Oklahoma. The Bureau knew that Thompson’s Cherokee ancestry and his ties to Oklahoma's criminal underworld made him a perfect informant. While he did provide some important testimony for the case, he decided to run off. He formed the Thompson Gang and started a long crime spree.

Blackie killed a police officer while robbing a bank on July 2, 1924, in Drumright, Oklahoma. On December 24, his gang robbed another bank by loading the bank’s entire safe onto a truck. He was captured the next day and sentenced to life in prison at the McAlester prison. By this time, the gang had earned nationwide attention for their crimes. August 30, 1933, he escaped from the prison and went to Texas. After robbing several banks in Texas, he was captured, sentenced to death, and sent to the Huntsville Prison in Huntsville, Texas.

On July 22, 1934, Blackie and some other inmates escaped from the Death House at the Wall’s Unit. This was considered one of the most daring escapes of the time from one of the most notorious prisons. The next escape from the prison wasn’t until 1998. Blackie robbed more banks in Texas before he made it to Amarillo, Texas, where he hid in a safe house.

In early December of 1934, Amarillo authorities received a tip that Blackie was planning a bank robbery. On the evening of December the 6th, officers spotted him in a stolen car. The officers chased Blackie’s car for twelve miles before they finally shot a tire on his car, and it ended up in a ditch. Blackie began shooting at the officers. He was killed in the gun battle ending his reign of crime. His death made national news; it was published in the New York Times. He is buried in Wheeler, Texas.