The Village: wheat fields to a 1950s boom town
Until the late 1940s, the land that became The Village was farmland where families grew wheat and traded at nearby Britton. Houses began to rise in 1949 after developer Clarence E. Duffner platted The Village Addition to Nichols Hills, and Floyd Harrison built on the east side near Pennsylvania Avenue. The Town of The Village incorporated in January 1950 with about 160 acres and only seven residents, six of whom voted yes. Over the next three years it annexed nine more additions, and by 1953 its population was estimated at 8,000, according to the Oklahoma Historical Society.
By 1960, when the census counted 12,118 people, Oklahoma City had boxed The Village in at about 2.5 square miles, roughly Hefner Road on the north, Hefner Parkway on the west, Waverly and McKinley on the east, and Britton Road, Westminster and Andover on the south. Inside those lines sat the old Curtiss-Wright Field at Britton and May, Wiley Post's base of operations from 1929 through 1934, which closed in 1955. Casady Square went up at Pennsylvania and Britton, and Casady School and the Love's Travel Stops headquarters are here today.
The housing numbers match that history. According to the Census Bureau's American Community Survey for 2020 to 2024, the median Village home was built in 1961. Of 5,117 housing units, 2,219 were built in the 1950s and 1,318 in the 1960s, about 70 percent of the total. Another 556 went up in the 2010s, so newer construction now sits among the original blocks. A house from that boom may still have galvanized water pipe, a cast-iron drain stack and a clay or cast-iron sewer lateral heading out to the street.
Who handles your water and sewer
Water in The Village comes from Oklahoma City. The city's own billing guide says water service is not included in a Village bill and that residents receive water service from OKC. That arrangement goes back to the town's early years, when water and sewer were provided by agreement with Oklahoma City. OKC draws raw water from a reservoir system that includes Hefner, Stanley Draper, Canton, Atoka and McGee Creek and treats it at two plants.
Sewer is split. The Village charges a sewer line maintenance fee that helps maintain the main sewer lines, but the city says plainly that it does not cover private sewer lines, and sewage usage is billed separately by the OKC Water Department. In practical terms, the city maintains the mains, and the pipe from your house to the main is yours. For a backup in the main, call Village Public Works. For trouble in your own lateral, a plumber with a camera is the right call, and our sewer line repair and replacement work starts with finding out exactly which pipe failed.
On lead, OKC's Lead-Safe program draws the same kind of line: the city is responsible for the public side of a water service line, and the property owner for the private side. Its online database lets you search an address for the recorded material. If your private side turns out to be lead, or galvanized pipe that was once connected to lead, replacing it falls to the property owner and a plumber, not the city.
Clay soil, freezes and permits in The Village
Central Oklahoma clay can move a lot. The Oklahoma Geological Survey's Kenneth Luza has written that clay minerals such as montmorillonite in shale-derived soils can swell to 1.5 to 2 times their dry volume when wet. That movement stresses rigid old drain pipe under slabs and yards, which helps explain why aging joints separate and roots find their way in.
The February 2021 freeze reached every home in the area. Oklahoma City recorded minus 14°F on February 16, according to the Oklahoma Climatological Survey. Research cited by IBHS treats 20°F as the point where pipes in southern homes are at real risk. OKC Utilities recommends wrapping pipes in crawlspaces, attics and garages before a freeze, and it asks customers who see water in the street, at the curb or in a meter box to report it.
Permits are handled by The Village Building and Code Department at 2304 Manchester Drive, led by the city's building inspector. The city publishes a residential building permit application, and the department reviews projects for compliance with local codes and zoning. Call before a sewer replacement, water heater swap or gas line job to confirm what the permit covers.
