Kingfisher is a city 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 Kingfisher 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 ...

,. The population was 4,903 at the time of the 2020 census. It is the former home and namesake of Kingfisher College. According to the ''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture'', Kingfisher is now primarily a

bedroom community A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many o ...

for people employed in Enid and

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 ...

.McIntyre, Glen
''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture''. "Kingfisher."
Retrieved March 6, 2015.

History

19th century

Kingfisher came into existence on April 22, 1889, when land owned by the federal government was opened to settlement by "

land run A land run or land rush was an event in which previously restricted land of the United States was opened to homestead on a first-arrival basis. Lands were opened and sold first-come or by bid, or won by lottery, or by means other than a run. The ...

". A huge area in what is now central Oklahoma was literally "peopled" by non-Native Americans overnight. The city is situated on a part of the

Chisholm Trail The Chisholm Trail ( ) was a stock trail and wagon route used in the post-Civil War era to drive cattle overland from ranches in southern Texas, across the Red River into Indian Territory, and northward to rail stops in Kansas. The trail cons ...

, over which millions of

Texas longhorns The Texas Longhorns are the athletic teams representing the University of Texas at Austin. The teams are sometimes referred to as the Horns and take their name from Longhorn cattle that were an important part of the development of Texas, and ...

were driven to railheads in Kansas in the years immediately following the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

. Extension of the railroads and settlement of the open range ended this colorful era. The town was named for an early resident who several landmarks were named for, a man named King Fisher.Alley, John. City Beginnings in Oklahoma Territory. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Oklahoma, 1939. The bill that opened Oklahoma Territory to non-Indian settlement limited the sizes of townsites to . Settlers in the Kingfisher area formed two communities: Kingfisher City, on the north side of the settlement, and Lisbon, on the south side. The two merged on June 14, 1890, and the resulting town was named Kingfisher. Oklahoma Territory was organized May 2, 1890, and consisted of the Unassigned Lands and the Panhandle. The Western District included present-day Kingfisher County, part of Canadian County and the Panhandle. Abraham Jefferson Seay, a

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

native, was appointed as District Judge and moved to Kingfisher. In 1892, Seay was appointed as the second territorial governor by President

Benjamin Harrison Benjamin Harrison (August 20, 1833March 13, 1901) was the 23rd president of the United States, serving from 1889 to 1893. He was a member of the Harrison family of Virginia—a grandson of the ninth president, William Henry Harrison, and a ...

. Railroads helped with Kingfisher’s growth: the

Chicago, Kansas and Nebraska Railway The Chicago, Kansas and Nebraska Railway (CK&N) was formed in 1885 and Marcus Low, a former attorney for the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad, was its president. The CRI&P advanced the CK&N about twenty-five million dollars to begin cons ...

(later part of the Rock Island) built through the area, the first passenger train arriving on October 23, 1889. A newspaper was published in Kingfisher from 1889 to 1963 under the names ''Kingfisher Free Press'', ''The New World'', ''Kingfisher Weekly Free Press'', and ''Kingfisher Weekly Star and Free Press''.

20th century

The

Coleman Company The Coleman Company, Inc. is an American brand of outdoor recreation products, especially camping gear, now owned by Newell Brands. The company's new headquarters are in Chicago, and it has facilities in Wichita, Kansas, and in Texas. There are ...

was founded in Kingfisher by W. C. Coleman in 1900. In 1900, the Guthrie and Kingfisher Railway—also later part of the Rock Island—built east from Kingfisher, while the Guthrie and Western Railway—an affiliate of the

Santa Fe Railroad The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the largest Class 1 railroads in the United States between 1859 and 1996. The Santa Fe was a pioneer in intermodal freight transport; at variou ...

—built west from Seward, Oklahoma, meeting at a point that became Cashion, Oklahoma, and giving Kingfisher access to the territorial capitol of Guthrie and the Santa Fe system. The Kingfisher to Seward line was abandoned in pieces in 1934 and 1937, but Kingfisher still has freight rail service on what is now the

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad is a Railroad classes, Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United Stat ...

. The Kingfisher County Development Foundation was created in 1958 for the purpose of assisting and promoting industrial, economic and civic growth within, and surrounding the Kingfisher area of Oklahoma.A present K.C.D.F. strategy includes the investment for development of the Kingfisher Industrial Park. The industrial park is located just south of Kingfisher, further closing the gap between

and Kingfisher. Kingfisher has quickly become a suburban community of the Oklahoma City Metropolitan Statistical Area, already home to many commuters to Oklahoma City. Kingfisher is a Certified City and has received a Community Development Block Grant to inventory infrastructure features for Capital Improvement Planning (CIP).

21st century

On August 19, 2007, the city was 25% flooded when Kingfisher Creek and Uncle John Creek overflowed their banks, the result of heavy rain from Tropical Depression Erin. One woman died in the flood.

Geography

Kingfisher is located south-central Kingfisher County northwest of Oklahoma City. U.S. Route 81 (Main Street) passes through the center of town, leading north to Enid and south to El Reno. Oklahoma State Highway 3 (Broadway Avenue) crosses US 81 in the center of town, leading east to Guthrie and west to Watonga. 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 ...

, Kingfisher has a total area of , of which , or 1.21%, are water. The city is drained by Kingfisher Creek, a northeast-flowing tributary of the Cimarron River.

Climate

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 4,633 people, 1,804 households, and 1,217 families residing in the city.DP-1 Profile of General Population and Housing Characteristics: 2010--2010 Demographic Profile Data
''United States Census Bureau'', retrieved April 27, 2015. The racial makeup of the city was 83.9%

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 ...

, 1.6%

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 ...

, 3.8% Native American, 0.5% Asian, 6.9% from other races, and 3.3% 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 12.4% of the population. There were 1,804 households, out of which 28.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.5% 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, 10.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.5% were non-families while 29.2% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.5 and the average family size was 3.06. The median age was 37 years. 52.1% of the population was female and 47.9% male. As of the 2013 American Community Survey, the median income for a household in the city was $49,727, and the median income for a family was $59,408.DP03 Selected Economic Characteristics: 2009-2013 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates
, ''United States Census Bureau'', retrieved April 27, 2015. Males had a median full-time income of $49,444 versus $32,996 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 city was $24,363. About 7.7% of families and 5.8% 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 7.9% of those under age 18 and 9.6% of those age 65 or over.

Places of interest

Kingfisher's only permanent tourist attraction is the Chisholm Trail Museum, which houses the Gov. Seay Mansion. This facility preserves relics and information of the community's unique heritage.

Government

Kingfisher has a commission-manager government.

Notable people

* George S. Benson, missionary, college administrator, conservative political activist and segregationist * Don Blanding, poet * Sol Butler, pioneering black Olympian and 1920s NFL player * Arthur A. Collins, founder of

Collins Radio Company Rockwell Collins, Inc. was a multinational corporation headquartered in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, providing avionics and information technology systems and services to government agencies and aircraft manufacturers. It was formed when the Collins Rad ...

* Elmer Crumbley, jazz trombonist * Erna P. Harris, journalist * Curtis Lofton, NFL linebacker for the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team based in Oakland, California, from its founding in 1960 to 1981, and again from 1995 to 2019 before Oakland Raiders relocation to Las Vegas, relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan ...

* Carl Mays,

MLB Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

pitcher, 4-time

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB). It has been contested since between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winning team, determined through a best- ...

champion * Joe Redington, founder of the Iditarod Sled Dog Race * Abraham Jefferson Seay, Associate Justice of the Oklahoma Territorial Supreme Court and second Governor of

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 ...

* Jace Sternberger,

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

player * James "Bud" Walton, co-founder of Wal-Mart *

Sam Walton Samuel Moore Walton (March 29, 1918 – April 5, 1992) was an American business magnate best known for Co-founding the retailers Walmart and Sam's Club, which he started in Rogers, Arkansas, and Midwest City, Oklahoma, in 1962 and 1983 res ...

, founder of

Wal-Mart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States and 23 other ...

and

Sam's Club Sam's West, Inc. (doing business as Sam's Club) is a chain of membership-only warehouse club retail stores in the United States owned by Walmart. It was founded in 1983 and named after Walmart founder Sam Walton as Sam's Wholesale Club. , Sam's ...

References

External links

Official website

Chisholm Trail Museum

Kingfisher Chamber of Commerce

Oklahoma Digital Maps: Digital Collections of Oklahoma and Indian Territory
{{Authority control Cities in Oklahoma Cities in Kingfisher County, Oklahoma County seats in Oklahoma Populated places established in 1889 1889 establishments in Indian Territory