Sweetwater is a town in
Beckham and
Roger Mills Counties in the
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...
of
Oklahoma. It was incorporated in 1998. As of the
2010 census it had a population of 87.
History
Named for nearby
Sweetwater Creek, the town is at the junction of
State Highway 30 and
State Highway 152. Sweetwater originated around the time of the Cheyenne-Arapaho land opening in 1892. A post office for Sweetwater was established September 27, 1894 (current zip code 73666). By 1910, the community had an estimated population of 50, two general stores, a dry goods–grocery store, a cotton gin, and a fuel company. The residents expected the construction of a railroad through the area, but none was built, which limited further growth. The town did expand to about 100 people around the time of World War I, based on being an agricultural service center for the surrounding township, and the postmaster estimated 150 in the 1930s. However, the population started a decline even before World War II, as improved roads and automobile transportation carried business south to
Erick or east to
Elk City.
On May 5, 2007, a
tornado
A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...
, rated EF3 on the
enhanced Fujita scale
The Enhanced Fujita scale (abbreviated as EF-Scale) rates tornado intensity based on the severity of the damage they cause. It is used in some countries, including the United States, Canada, China, and Mongolia.
The Enhanced Fujita scale repl ...
), traveled on a path around wide and long. It began about south of Sweetwater and ended roughly north of Sweetwater, following State Highway 30. EF3 wind speeds range from . It severely damaged several buildings in the town, including the church and high school, and destroyed eight homes.
Education
The Sweetwater Public School District is one of the smallest public school districts in Oklahoma. For 2007, it tied with
Boley for the smallest high school with 15 students. For a combined district, K-12, Sweetwater finished third behind
Boley (51) and
Clarita (58), with 60 students.
Transportation
Oklahoma State Highway 6
State Highway 6, abbreviated SH-6 or OK-6, is a state highway in Oklahoma. It runs in a crescent through the southwestern part of the state, running from the Texas state line north of Quanah, Texas, to SH-152 in the unincorporated town of ...
and
152
Year 152 (Roman numerals, CLII) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Glabrio and Homullus (or, less frequently, year 905 ''Ab ...
run concurrently east-west through the town.
Oklahoma State Highway 30
State Highway 30 (abbreviated SH-30) is a state highway in Oklahoma. It runs south-to-north along the western edge of the state, from U.S. Highway 62 (US-62) in Hollis to the town of Durham, two miles (3 km) north of SH-33. It passes ...
runs north-south through town.
[ The Texas border is just to the west.][
Hobart Regional Airport (KHBR, or FAA ID: HBR) is about 74 miles southeast.][
The nearest major airport to Sweetwater with commercial connections is ]Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport
Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport is a public airport six miles (10 km) east of downtown Amarillo, in Potter County, Texas, United States. The airport was renamed in 2003 after NASA astronaut and Amarillo native Rick Husband, ...
, about 125 miles to the west.
References
External links
Information on Sweetwater
{{Authority control
Towns in Beckham County, Oklahoma
Towns in Roger Mills County, Oklahoma
Towns in Oklahoma
Populated places established in 2003