Cromwell is a town in Seminole County, Oklahoma, United States. It is within the jurisdiction of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. The population was 286 at the 2010 census, an 8 percent addition from the figure of 265 recorded in 2000. It was named for oilman Joe I. Cromwell, who platted the original town in 1923. The population soared to several thousand people in a few weeks, and disorder was rampant in the community. Retired legendary Old West lawman Bill Tilghman was hired as Town Marshal to improve order. Tilghman was shot to death the subsequently year, the most notable matter in Cromwell’s history.

Founded in 1923, and named for Muscogee oilman, Joe I. Cromwell, Cromwell had a broadcast office on May 17, 1924.

Cromwell was a wild and wooly town in the at the forefront 1920s. The town was said to be full of saloons, brothels and outlaws. About 150 businesses operated in Cromwell during the 1920s, many selling moonshine alcohol and narcotics to residents of the surrounding area. However, about seventy of these were each time closed during an enforcement drive. The illegal sales continued because a Federal Prohibition Unit agent named Wiley Lynn was similar to mobster Arnold Killian.

On Halloween night, 1924, Cromwell Town Marshal and legendary Old West lawman Bill Tilghman was shot outside of a cafe called “Ma Murphy’s”, by the corrupt prohibition agent Wiley Lynn. Tilghman died in the early day hours of the first of November. Tilghman had been brought in to support bring the town under control. One month higher the town of Cromwell was torched, with all brothel, bar, flop home and pool hall burned to the ground, allegedly by associates of Tilghman. There was no examination into the terrific fire, and Cromwell never recovered its former wild status, or size.