Owasso is located in two counties, Rogers and Tulsa, just north of Tulsa. Owasso started out as a settlement in the Cooweescoowee District of the Cherokee Nation in Indian Territory in 1881. This area was named for Elm Creek, with H.T. Richardson being the first settler.

It didn’t take long for others to settle here and by 1893 when the plans for a rail line were announced, there many living here as well as a few businesses. The general store owner, Preston Ballard, established the first post office for Owasso in 1898 and became the first postmaster.

The right-of-way for a rail was acquired by the Kansas, Oklahoma Central and Southwestern Railway in 1897.  For the community to have water, a natural spring was dammed to form a lake, and the rail line built a depot just south of that lake.

By 1899 the railroad was completed, and after the parent company had taken over operations, the first name arrived. The land would begin to develop around the railroad and thus the word Owasso was given to the area, an Osage Indian word that means “the end of the trail.”

In 1907, Oklahoma became a state, and there were almost 400 residents in the town limits of Owasso. The first newspaper was published in August of 1903 with subscription service at the cost of $1.00 annually. In 1905, the Pioneer Telephone and Telegraph Company received a franchise, providing Owasso’s first telephone service. In 1924a, a water tower was erected in 1924, using water from Spavinaw as the source, brought by barrels from Owasso Lake.