The town of Lyman Oklahoma began shortly after the discovery of oil in the Burbank field in 1920. The oil field was typical for the place and time, attracting the best and worst of humanity. Like all the oil booms of the day, housing was difficult to come by and camps sprang up across the oil fields. Roads were rudimentary or non existent and many of the camps and boom towns were initially little more than tent cities and clap board shacks.
As the oil field matured, more permanent housing was built, replacing the shacks which were sweltering in the summer and freezing in the winter. There were several accounts of snow drifing through the cracks covering the floors. Some of the larger camps became almost like towns, with their own schools and post offices.
Some early entrepreneurs took advantage of the lack of homesteads, platted town sites, and sold lots. A.J. Lyman did just that, creating the town that bore his namesake. Lots sold quickly, homes and businesses were established, and a four room brick school was built. While some of these boom towns were quite modern with water and sewer systems, electricity, Lyman remained quite primitive, not acquiring these niceties until much later in the boom. The only thing that was plentiful was natural gas, which was used for light and heat. In the early days, water was from wells or nearby creeks.
The Osage railway, owned by the Midland Valley railway, was originally built from Foraker to Shidler, with construction from November 10th, 1921 to February 23, 1922. It was later extended to Lyman with construction beginning on July 2nd, 1923 and completing in early 1924. The rail was technically freight service only, though passengers hitched a ride occasionally, as rules tended to be a bit lax. The rail service was the early driver for Lyman's growth, and by March 22nd, 1924, a post office.was established.
As oil production began to decline in the late 1920s and the start of the Great Depression the school at Lyman was closed in 1929, merging with nearby Webb City. Lyman lingered on, bolstered somewhat by the need for oil and refineries due to WWII, but once the war ended, the aging refineries began to shut down. The Osage Railway, which had brought life to the Lyman, was abandoned in 1953, and what was left of the town followed shortly after, with the post office closing in February of 1956.