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Oak Grove Certified Firewise Community/USA |
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Oak Grove is located on Highways 21 and 103, and borders the Missouri State Line. It is just to the south of Yocum, and to the west of Maple. For their first project, members of the Oak Grove Fire Department cleaned up a resident's property that had become overgrown with brush. (Photos below.) In their project summary the group wrote, "We felt that the property, located on Highway 103 North, could be very vulnerable to wildland fires. Our solution to the problem included knocking down the knee-high grass with lawnmowers and weedeaters, and then trimming the lower limbs and brush around the trees. The area we worked over was approximately one-half acre and is located directly behind two houses. Since we reduced the available fuel for a potential fire to burn, we feel that the property is much safer as a result."
Because four different courthouses in Carroll County had been destroyed by fire prior to 1872, finding historical records concerning the area in its infancy are hard to come by. It is know the first three designated townships in the county were Carrollton, Osage and Prairie, so the people living in Oak Grove at the time had as their Post Office address and residency as Carrollton township. Hickory Township was formed in 1870 and in 1873 it was divided and Yocum Township was created. The Yocum post office was established on June 8, 1882, while the first settler came into the area almost a half century before. Recorded articles list Yocum in 1900 with 60 inhabitants and the leading community of the township. The same year, Oak Grove had a population of 25 and its post office had been established 11 years before that of Yocum, however, the town had only a Justice of the Peace and one leading store with a few houses built in the neighborhood of the general store. Today there is little evidence, outside the old mill dam, that Yocum ever existed, while Oak Grove has made considerable growth since the 1930s. |
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Mitigation Project |
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The Community of Oak Grove FireWise Board was formed January 24, 2006, and
the community became a Certified
Oak Grove History
