Oklahoma City - Encyclopedia

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES

OKLAHOMA CITY, a city and the county-seat of Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, U.S.A., on the North Fork of the Canadian river, near the geographical centre of the state. Pop. (1890) 4151; (1900) 10, 0 37; (1907) 3 2 ,45 2; (1910) 64,205. It is served by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific, the Missouri, Kansas & Texas, and the St Louis & San Francisco railways, and by inter-urban electric lines. It lies partly in a valley, partly on an upland, in a rich agricultural region. The city is the seat of Epworth University (founded in 1901 by the joint action of the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South). Oklahoma City's prosperity is due chiefly to its jobbing trade, with an extensive farming and stock-raising region, but it has also cotton compresses and cotton gins, and various manufactures. The total value of the factory products in 1905 was $3,670,730. Natural gas is largely used as a fuel. A large settlement was established here on the 22nd of April 1889, the day on which the country was by proclamation declared open for settlement. The city was chartered in 1890.