Unincorporated area
In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not governed by a local municipal corporation; similarly an unincorporated community is a settlement that is not governed by its own local municipal corporation, but rather is administered as part of larger administrative divisions, such as a township, parish, borough, county, city, canton, state, province or country. Occasionally, municipalities dissolve or disincorporate, which may happen if they become fiscally insolvent, and services become the responsibility of a higher administration. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. In most other countries of the world, there are either no unincorporated areas at all, or these are very rare; typically remote, outlying, sparsely populated or uninhabited areas.
List of unincorporated communities in Oklahoma
Many unincorporated communities were at one time incorporated but for various reasons no longer have a municipal government. Depopulation during the 1930s and 40s caused the loss of many communities and some no longer exist even as unincorporated communities. In Oklahoma, incorporated municipalities may petition for dissolution or be declared dissolved after missing two concurrent municipal elections (held April of odd numbered years). Platted unincorporated communities do have some right under the laws of Oklahoma that non-platted communities do not enjoy. A town plat is also one of the conditions required for incorporation.