Nicoma Park: from poultry colony to east-side city
Nicoma Park takes its name from developer G. A. Nichols, combined with the last letters of Oklahoma. Nichols opened it in 1928, nine miles east of the state capital, as a colony for chicken farmers, with plans for homes, a hatchery and a brooder house. The venture began to fail in 1931, when a lawsuit claimed he had not delivered promised improvements, but the community stayed and grew. Today the city covers about 3.4 square miles, the 2020 census counted 2,313 residents, and most of town is served by Choctaw/Nicoma Park Schools, including Nicoma Park's elementary, intermediate and middle schools.
Housing built a little at a time
Unlike suburbs that went up in a single boom, Nicoma Park has added homes steadily for nearly a century. The American Community Survey counts about 1,080 housing units, from roughly 96 built before 1940 to about 108 built between 2010 and 2019, with every decade in between represented. The estimated median year built is 1975. About 216 units, close to one in five, are mobile homes, and about 81 percent of occupied homes are owner-occupied.
That spread means a plumber in Nicoma Park can see a prewar house, a 1960s home and a new build on the same afternoon. Older homes may still have galvanized supply pipe and cast-iron drains. Mobile homes have supply lines under the floor inside the skirting, where a gap lets wind reach the pipe. Newer homes are more likely to have PEX and PVC, but their water heaters, valves and fixtures still wear out on their own schedule.
City water, private wells and septic
The City of Nicoma Park operates a groundwater system, but federal drinking water records list it with only about 127 service connections. The Census counts roughly 960 occupied households in town, so before any water line, pressure or filtration job we confirm where your water actually comes from: the city system, another provider or a private well. If you are on a well, the pressure tank, pressure switch and pump controls are part of your plumbing, and our septic plumbing and pressure tank repair service covers them.
Well water also behaves differently from treated city water. If you notice staining, grit in faucet screens or a sulfur smell, have the water tested first, because the right treatment depends on what is actually in it. The results tell us whether a sediment filter, a whole-house system or a reverse osmosis unit at the kitchen sink is the right fit.
Homes that are not on a public sewer rely on on-site systems, which the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality oversees. DEQ certifies the installers who build septic systems and the people who perform the soil profile tests used to design them. We work on the plumbing that feeds the system: the building drain, the line to the tank and the cleanouts that make service possible.
Freeze exposure and permits in Nicoma Park
On February 16, 2021, Oklahoma City fell to minus 14°F, its second-lowest temperature on record, according to the Oklahoma Climatological Survey, and IBHS treats 20°F as the alert threshold for pipes in southern homes. In Nicoma Park, the most exposed lines are the ones in well houses, under mobile homes, at outdoor hydrants and in garages. A safe heat source in the well house and insulation on exposed pipe go a long way, and our plumbing winterization service covers it before the season starts.
Nicoma Park is its own city with a mayor and council, so permits for work inside city limits go through Nicoma Park rather than Oklahoma City or Midwest City. When a job needs one, we handle the application and schedule the inspection, so you can focus on getting your water back. Ask us before you start a remodel, since the permit question is easier to settle early.
