Dewey County is a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

in the western part of 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 so ...

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 ...

. As of the 2020 census, the population was 4,484. Its

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 ...

is Taloga. The county was created in 1891 as "County D". In an 1898 election, county voters chose the name Dewey, honoring Admiral

George Dewey George Dewey (December 26, 1837January 16, 1917) was Admiral of the Navy, the only person in United States history to have attained that rank. He is best known for his victory at the Battle of Manila Bay during the Spanish–American War, wi ...

History

Lands assigned to the Choctaw and Seminole tribes extended into the area now occupied by Dewey County. Under the Reconstruction Treaties of 1866 the Choctaw and Chickasaw ceded their western domain to the United States. Known as the Leased District, part of the area became the Cheyenne and Arapaho reservation. Dewey County was created in

Oklahoma Territory The Territory of Oklahoma was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 2, 1890, until November 16, 1907, when it was joined with the Indian Territory under a new constitution and admitted to the Union as ...

in 1891 and was opened to non-Indian settlement on April 19, 1892. It was then named as County D by an act of Congress, and did not receive its present name until a general election in 1898. A wooden structure in Taloga was used as the county courthouse from 1909 until 1926, when the present courthouse was built.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (0.9%) is water. Most of the county is in the Gypsum Hills physiographic region, except that the western one-fourth of the county is in the High Plains region. It is drained by the

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

and

North Canadian River The North Canadian River is a river, long, in Oklahoma in the United States. It is a tributary of the Canadian River, draining an area of U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset/Watershed Boundary Dataset, area data covering Nor ...

s. Canton Lake, built on the Canadian River in 1966, is the only significant lake or reservoir in the county.

Major highways

* U.S. Highway 60 * U.S. Highway 183 * U.S. Highway 270 * U.S. Highway 281 * State Highway 34 * State Highway 47 * State Highway 51

Adjacent counties

* Woodward County (north) * Major County (north) * Blaine County (east) * Custer County (south) * Roger Mills County (southwest) * Ellis County (northwest)

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 2000, there were 4,743 people, 1,962 households, and 1,336 families residing in the county. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was . There were 2,425 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 92.16%

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 ...

, 0.13%

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

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 ...

, 4.64% Native American, 0.06% Asian, 0.02%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 0.72% from other races, and 2.28% from two or more races. 2.68% of the population were

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. There were 1,962 households, out of which 26.70% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.80% 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, 5.00% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.90% were non-families. 30.00% of all households were made up of individuals, and 16.40% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.35 and the average family size was 2.93. In the county, the population was spread out, with 23.30% under the age of 18, 7.10% from 18 to 24, 22.90% from 25 to 44, 25.70% from 45 to 64, and 21.00% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43 years. For every 100 females there were 94.90 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.30 males. The median income for a household in the county was $28,172, and the median income for a family was $36,114. Males had a median income of $26,675 versus $18,548 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 county was $15,806. About 11.40% of families and 15.00% 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 17.60% of those under age 18 and 15.80% of those age 65 or over.

Politics

Economy

The county economy has centered on agriculture since it began to be settled. Principal crops have included corn, cotton, wheat, broomcorn, Kaffir corn, and oats. Truck farmers in the eastern part of the county grew tomatoes, watermelons, apples, blackberries, and other small fruits. Livestock (cattle, horses, mules, sheep and goats) raising had become important by the 1930s. These products were still economically important by the turn of the 21st century. Mineral extraction included oil and gas production (mainly in the 1940s and 1950s),

bentonite Bentonite ( ) is an Absorption (chemistry), absorbent swelling clay consisting mostly of montmorillonite (a type of smectite) which can either be Na-montmorillonite or Ca-montmorillonite. Na-montmorillonite has a considerably greater swelli ...

, gypsum, clay and sand. In 2000, Dewey County had only two manufacturing businesses that employed more than ten people.

Communities

City

* Seiling

Towns

* Camargo * Leedey * Oakwood * Putnam * Taloga (county seat) * Vici

Unincorporated communities

* Fay (

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

) * Lenora

Education

School districts include:
Text list
/ref> * Canton Public Schools * Leedey Public Schools * Sharon-Mutual Public Schools * Seiling Public Schools * Taloga Public Schools * Thomas-Fay-Custer Unified Schools * Vici Public Schools

References

External links

Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture - Dewey County

Oklahoma Digital Maps: Digital Collections of Oklahoma and Indian Territory
{{coord, 35.99, -99.00, display=title, type:adm2nd_region:US-OK_source:UScensus1990 1891 establishments in Oklahoma Territory Populated places established in 1891