Arnett is a town in and the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

of Ellis County,

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

, United States. The population was 495 at the time of the 2020 census.

History

The townsite came about at the junction of local trading routes. A post office was established at the townsite in 1902, with William G. Brown as the postmaster. Brown is said to have named the post office Arnett after A. S. Arnett, Brown's minister from

Fayetteville, West Virginia Fayetteville is a town in and the county seat of Fayette County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 2,887 at the 2020 census. Fayetteville lies adjacent to the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve and is directly south of th ...

.Arnett
. - ''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture''. - Oklahoma Historical Society After statehood in 1907, several county boundaries changed, and the southern part of old Day County was added to the southwestern part of Woodward County to become Ellis County. An election to locate the county seat was held in June 1908, and resulted in a runoff between Arnett and Shattuck, Oklahoma. Arnett won and remains the county seat today. Shortly thereafter, development continued with the founding of two weekly newspapers the ''Ellis County Capital'' and the ''Arnett Leader'' as well as lawyer offices, banks, real estate/loan shops, grocery stores, blacksmiths, and more operating there in the pre-World War I years.

Geography

Arnett lies approximately north-northeast of the

Canadian River The Canadian River is the longest tributary of the Arkansas River in the United States. It is about long, starting in Colorado and traveling through New Mexico, the Texas Panhandle, and Oklahoma. The drainage area is about .Great Plains The Great Plains is a broad expanse of plain, flatland in North America. The region stretches east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, and grassland. They are the western part of the Interior Plains, which include th ...

. Located in

northwestern Oklahoma Northwestern Oklahoma is the geographical region of the state of Oklahoma which includes the Oklahoma Panhandle and a majority of the Cherokee Outlet, stretching to an eastern extent along Interstate 35, and its southern extent along the Cana ...

at the junction of

U.S. Route 60 U.S. Route 60 is a major east–west United States highway, traveling from southwestern Arizona to the Atlantic Ocean coast in Virginia. The highway's eastern terminus is in Virginia Beach, Virginia, where it is known as General Booth Bouleva ...

and

U.S. Route 283 U.S. Route 283 is a spur of U.S. Route 83. It currently runs for 731 miles (1,175 km) from Brady, Texas at U.S. Route 87 to Lexington, Nebraska at U.S. Route 30. It passes through the states of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska. R ...

, Arnett is west-northwest of

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Oklahoma, most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat ...

, northeast of Amarillo, and southwest of Wichita. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the town has a total area of , all land.

Climate

Arnett has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen ''Cfa'') with hot, humid summers and cold, dry winters. The average temperature in Arnett is , and the average yearly precipitation is . On average, January is the coolest month, July is the warmest month, and May is the wettest month. The hottest temperature recorded in Arnett was in 1951; the coldest temperature recorded was in 1959.

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2010, there were 524 people living in the town. The population density was . There were 281 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 96.35%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.38%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.96% Native American, 1.15% from other races, and 1.15% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 1.35% of the population. There were 238 households, out of which 23.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.3% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 5.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 40.8% were non-families. 39.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 19.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.13 and the average family size was 2.81. In the town, the population was spread out, with 21.3% under the age of 18, 6.3% from 18 to 24, 23.3% from 25 to 44, 25.8% from 45 to 64, and 23.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 44 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.8 males. The median income for a household in the town was $26,618, and the median income for a family was $29,861. Males had a median income of $24,250 versus $13,438 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the town was $14,512. About 12.8% of families and 18.9% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 27.4% of those under age 18 and 20.0% of those age 65 or over.

Education

Arnett Public Schools operates one school in the town, Arnett School (

Grades Grade most commonly refers to: * Grading in education, a measurement of a student's performance by educational assessment (e.g. A, pass, etc.) * A designation for students, classes and curricula indicating the number of the year a student has reach ...

Pre-K-12).

Transportation

and SH-51 run concurrently east–west through Arnett.

, a north–south highway which meets U.S. 60 and SH-51 roughly one-half mile east of town, runs concurrently east–west with U.S. 60 and SH-51 through town. Arnett is also the southern terminus of SH-46 which runs north–south.

Media

Arnett has a weekly

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...

, ''The Ellis County Capital''.

Historical Sites

The Ellis County Courthouse, built in 1912, is in the center of the Courthouse Square in Arnett. The Courthouse is on the National Register of Historic Places listings in Ellis County, Oklahoma. A log cabin sits just south of the Ellis County Courthouse on the Courthouse lawn, variously known as the Historic Log Cabin of Arnett or the Ellis County Log Cabin. It was built in 1893 of huge cedar logs, some as much as 2-1/2 feet across. It was used as a residence until 1939, and soon thereafter disassembled and put back together in Arnett for preservation. The remains of

Grand, Oklahoma Grand is a ghost town in Ellis County, Oklahoma, United States. It served as the county seat of Day County and then of Ellis County until the seat moved to Arnett in 1908. History Today's community of Grand was the one-time county seat of E ...

, included on the National Register of Historic Places listings in Ellis County, Oklahoma as Grand Town Site, is 14 miles south of Arnett. This town was voted the seat of old Day County in 1893; however, Day County was eliminated at Oklahoma statehood. The post office closed September 30, 1943, and only building footings remain today.

Recreation

Fort Supply Reservoir and Cooper Wildlife Management Area are to the northwest. Lake Lloyd Vincent and the Ellis County Wildlife Management Area are to the southwest. Paddlesack Wildlife Management Area is to the south, while the

Black Kettle National Grassland The Black Kettle National Grassland, in Roger Mills County, Oklahoma, and Hemphill County, Texas, contains of which are in Oklahoma. Named for the Indian leader Black Kettle, the grassland is managed by the Cibola National Forest, which also ...

is further south.

Notable people

Notable individuals who were born in and/or have lived in Arnett include: * Olin Branstetter, Oklahoma state legislator * Donald J. Gott (1923-1944),

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

1st Lieutenant,

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest Awards and decorations of the United States Armed Forces, military decoration and is awarded to recognize American United States Army, soldiers, United States Navy, sailors, Un ...

recipient

References

External links

Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture - Arnett
{{authority control Towns in Ellis County, Oklahoma Towns in Oklahoma County seats in Oklahoma