Oklahoma City - Oklahoma - History
Oklahoma City, capital of Oklahoma. It lies along the North Canadian River near the state's centre. Through annexations it has become one of the USA's largest cities in land area.
Born of the "Run of '89," it came into being on April 22, 1889, when approximately 10,000 homesteaders congregated at Oklahoma Station (a stop established in 1887 on the Santa Fe Railway) to stake out land claims in central Oklahoma. A provisional town government was organized at a mass meeting in May 1889, but it was not until May 2, 1890, with the organization of the Oklahoma Territory, that official incorporation came. While the name Oklahoma City was in popular use from the city's beginning, the U.S. Post Office did not adopt the name until 1923.
The city developed as a distribution point for crops and cattle; its designation as the state capital in 1910 stimulated its growth. Meat-packing plants were established, and, with the arrival of more railroads, wholesale trade increased. Now a major transportation centre, it is the chief marketing and processing point for the state's vast livestock industry and a shipping point for cotton, wheat, and cattle. The first oil well in the Oklahoma City pool came in on Dec. 4, 1928. At one time about 1,400 wells were producing oil within the city limits, including some on the state capitol grounds. By the late 20th century the number had dropped to a few hundred.
The city has become one of the nation's foremost aviation centres with Tinker Air Force Base (a large logistics and communications base) and the Federal Aviation Administration's Aeronautical Center for training in air safety and airport administration. The city's highly diversified manufactures include petroleum products, executive aircraft, oil-field machinery, electronic equipment, and fabricated steel. Oklahoma City University was founded in 1904, Oklahoma Christian University of Science and Arts in 1950, and Oklahoma State University-Oklahoma City in 1961.
If your journey from Oklahoma City takes you in a different direction, just under one hundred miles southwest is the third largest city in the state; Lawton. Founded in 1901 when the Kiowa-Comanche reservation was opened for white settlement, Lawton used a lottery system to distribute land to claimants. Today it is the retail and distribution center for the area's agricultural industries as well as the home of Cameron University. It is adjacent to Fort Sill, which was founded in 1869 and an is active artillery training facility to this day. Military enthusiasts will enjoy the Fort Sill Museum, which includes educational areas such as a replica of an Indian village and soldier's barracks. In addition to a well-equipped frontier kitchen and schoolhouse, there are exhibits such as the cannon which fired the first atomic artillery round, a Desert Storm display, and Geronimo's Guardhouse; the Apache's grave is located a short distance away.
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