Whizbang was officially known as Denoya by the post office which did not consider the name Whizbang to be dignified. Denoya was the name of a prominent French/Osage Indian family. The Whizbang area at its peak had a population of 10,000 persons and 300 businesses and was considered the rowdiest of the many oil field towns in Oklahoma.
Perhaps the most infamous of the Oklahoma oil boom towns, Whizbang (or Denoya) came into existence overnight in 1921 when E.W. Marland drilled a 600 barrel per day oil well and precipitated an "oil rush" to the area. Both the quality and quantity of the petroleum were superb. The origin of the name "Whizbang" is uncertain. It may refer to a cartoon character of the day or to a madame of a brothel who called herself Whizbang Red. Customers planning to visit her establishment said they were going to see "Whizbang" and the name was quickly applied to the whole town.
Whizbang was a violent place. The bank was robbed twice and "it wasn't safe for a woman to be on the streets after dark." Highway robbers frequently robbed travelers along the road to Shidler at a place called "Pistol Hill." A man called "Jose Alvarado", whose real name was Bert Bryant was hired by oil companies to keep the peace. Alvarado, a Texan, had ridden with Pancho Villa in Mexico.
With the exhaustion of the petroleum reserves in the late 1920s Whizbang declined. The post office, established in 1921, was closed in 1942, and today little remains of the town except a network of old roads.