When my grandfather was born there in 1896, Fleetwood was only about ten years old. It had started as a trading post and post office on the Chisholm Trail, just across the Red River in Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). As the cattle drive years came to an end, Fleetwood grew into a farm community, with a school, churches, a general store, and a cotton gin. Like so many other farm towns in the years after World War II, though, Fleetwood suffered as people moved to the city, and small farms and ranches turned into large farms and ranches. Grandpa died in 1959, and Fleetwood died in 1961 when this store and the post office closed.
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