Gene Autry, Oklahoma: Lou, Dresden, Berwyn, Then a Cowboy Star

Before it took the name of a singing cowboy in 1941, the little town of Gene Autry, Oklahoma, had already been Lou, Dresden and Berwyn. The last change honored Gene Autry himself, the singing cowboy of radio and the movies.

Three names in four years

George H. Shirk went through the Postmaster General’s records at the National Archives and published Oklahoma’s early post offices in the Chronicles of Oklahoma in 1948. The trail for this town starts in the Chickasaw Nation:

• Lou. Opened July 11, 1883, with Benjamin F. Frensley as postmaster.
• Dresden. Lou’s name was changed to Dresden on November 22, 1883, a little over four months later. Same postmaster.
• Berwyn. Dresden became Berwyn on September 1, 1887, with James P. Taylor in charge.

Shirk added a note under Berwyn that tells you how this one ends: “This is the present town of Gene Autry in Carter County.”

The records don’t say why anyone picked Lou, Dresden or Berwyn, and none of the sources here explains it. What they do show is that Berwyn stuck. The 1901 map at the top of this page has it as Berwyn, right on the railroad, and it stayed Berwyn for 54 years.

November 16, 1941

The Chronicles ran a one-line note in December 1941: “Berwyn, Oklahoma, became officially Gene Autry in honor of the radio and screen singing cowboy star at exercises in his honor on November 16, 1941.” The federal place-names database gives the same date for the change.

A Canadian movie trade paper picked up the story in January 1942, with a twist. Under the headline “Senator Autry?” it reported that Autry was “being boomed for the U.S. Senate in Oklahoma,” and that the push “developed in southern Oklahoma recently when the town of Berwyn, Okla., changed its name to Gene Autry, Okla.” It added that he had recently bought a ranch nearby. The item doesn’t quote Autry on any of it.

Official, then more official

Government maps were another matter. They had to wait for the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, the federal board that decides what names go on them, and that took a while. On June 8, 1950, the Associated Press reported from Washington that “Government maps and papers henceforth will carry a little Oklahoma town near Ardmore as ‘Gene Autry, Okla.’” The board “made it official today,” the story said, adding that “the post office department previously had taken similar action.”

So the town got its fourth name at a ceremony in 1941 and had to wait almost nine years for the government’s mapmakers to write it down. You can still see the gap in the federal record, which lists both the 1941 change and a board decision in 1950.

Sources & further reading

• Chronicles of Oklahoma, Historical Notes (December 1941), p. 400. Berwyn “became officially Gene Autry” on November 16, 1941.
• George H. Shirk, “First Post Offices Within the Boundaries of Oklahoma,” Chronicles of Oklahoma (1948). Lou, Dresden and Berwyn, and the note “This is the present town of Gene Autry in Carter County.”
• Canadian Film Weekly, “Senator Autry?” (January 14, 1942). The Senate talk, the name change and the ranch.
• Associated Press, “Gene Autry, Okla.” (Hope Star, June 8, 1950). The Board on Geographic Names makes the name official.
• GNIS feature 1093157 (U.S. Geological Survey). “The name was changed to Gene Autry on November 16, 1941,” and the board decision of 1950.