Overview: Forget Stereotypes, This Cowtown Rocks
“… and Oklahoma City is mighty pretty” according to the lyrics of that jazz classic made famous by Nat King Cole, “Route 66”. It also is the capital city of Oklahoma, and with more than half a million people, the largest city in the state as well. With its borders surrounding some 621 square miles, it is the third largest city in total area in the U.S.
During the great land run of the late 1800s, about 10,000 people settled in what came to be Oklahoma City. It became a center of general commerce, and, as it grew, claimed the right to be the state capital. Its stockyards and meat packing plants became crucial to the growing cattle industry on the Great Plains, so in short, OK City (as many locals call it) was home to a lot of cowboys.
While the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum remains one of the most popular attractions in the city, Oklahoma City has changed. It has become a sophisticated, ethnically and socially diverse community, and the scope of its economy has grown. On a practical level, aside from being the seat of government for the state, the city is an important transportation hub for the middle of the country, a center of agricultural commerce and home to a variety of energy-related companies.
And, it is also home to the worst act of internal terrorism in history, the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal building bombing in 1995.
Fast Facts
- Location: Near the exact center of the state
- Area: 621 square miles
- Population: 528,042
- Housing units: 228,149
- Average annual rainfall: 33 inches plus 9.1 inches of snow
- Average Annual Temperature: 60 degrees F (35 degrees in January. 82 degrees in July)
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