How Warr Acres grew: Clyde Warr, Putnam City and the postwar boom
Warr Acres started as a housing addition laid out in 1937 by Clyde B. Warr, an Oklahoma City real estate developer, near the Putnam City lots that Israel M. Putnam began selling in 1909. An interurban line and, from 1946, a bus line Warr launched carried residents to jobs downtown. The town incorporated in 1948, after Bethany's council voted to annex Ferguson Park, Smythe Place and part of Warr Acres. Of roughly 2,000 residents, 857 voted for incorporation and 40 against, and the Oklahoma Supreme Court upheld the result.
Growth came fast. The population went from 2,378 in 1950 to 7,135 in 1960, and during the 1960s and 1970s shopping districts filled in where MacArthur crosses NW 39th, NW 50th and NW 63rd streets and Northwest Expressway. Today the city runs roughly from Wilshire Boulevard south to NW 33rd Street and from Meridian Avenue west to Mueller Avenue, with Route 66 passing through on the NW 39th Street Expressway and the Putnam City School District serving all of it.
The Census Bureau's 2020 to 2024 estimates put the median year built at 1965. Of 4,359 housing units, 1,290 date from the 1960s, 988 from the 1950s and 464 from the 1940s, so about two of every three homes are older than 1970. Expect galvanized water pipe, cast-iron drains and clay or cast-iron sewer laterals in many of them, unless a past owner already replaced them.
Oklahoma City water, Warr Acres sewer
Warr Acres does not produce its own drinking water. The city contracts with Oklahoma City for water service, and OKC bills residents directly. That water starts in reservoirs including Hefner, Stanley Draper, Canton, Atoka and McGee Creek and is treated at OKC's two water treatment plants. Warr Acres bills separately for sewer and trash through its Public Works Department on NW 50th Street.
Lead is a fair question in a town this age. Oklahoma City's Lead-Safe OKC program says the city is responsible for the public side of a service line and the property owner for the private side, and it publishes a database you can search by address. Should the private side prove to be lead or galvanized pipe of unknown history, replacing it is a plumbing job.
One local detail worth knowing before an emergency: the city tells residents that if a leak creates an emergency in a home or business, they can call the fire department for an emergency water shut-off. Know where your main valve is anyway, since it is the fastest way to stop the water.
Wastewater from Warr Acres has been treated jointly with Bethany since 1950, today at the Bluff Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant run by the Bethany-Warr Acres Public Works Authority. The collection system is the bigger story. A $10,210,000 loan approved by the Oklahoma Water Resources Board in 2023 is aimed at reducing inflow and infiltration, and the board's announcement described the system as near the end of its useful life. The work covers a study of the whole system, line and manhole replacement, and rehabilitation of a 21-inch interceptor, and a second loan in 2024 funded more planning and design.
What old sewers and cold snaps mean for your house
Inflow and infiltration is rain and groundwater sneaking into sewer pipe through cracks, bad joints and leaky manholes. On the public side it can overload mains and treatment during storms. On your side, the same kind of cracked joint lets roots in and soil wash into the line. If your drains gurgle or slow down after a heavy rain, a sewer camera inspection of your lateral shows whether the trouble is in your pipe or out in the street.
Winter is the other pressure point. When Oklahoma City dropped to minus 14°F on February 16, 2021, the second-coldest reading in its records per the Oklahoma Climatological Survey, older Warr Acres homes sat in the same cold. Oklahoma City Utilities advises wrapping pipes in crawlspaces, attics and garages, dripping hot and cold on outside walls to a stream about the width of a pencil lead, and shutting a sprinkler system off at the curb valve rather than only at the controller.
Plumbing permits come from the City of Warr Acres. The city says plumbing work is among the projects that require a permit, the contractor may need a Warr Acres license, and City Hall will review a project to decide whether a permit or inspection is needed.
