Wynnewood, Oklahoma facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Wynnewood, Oklahoma
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Location of Wynnewood, Oklahoma
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| Country | United States |
| State | Oklahoma |
| County | Garvin |
| Area | |
| • Total | 1.55 sq mi (4.03 km2) |
| • Land | 1.55 sq mi (4.03 km2) |
| • Water | 0.00 sq mi (0.00 km2) |
| Elevation | 896 ft (273 m) |
| Population
(2020)
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| • Total | 1,927 |
| • Density | 1,240.03/sq mi (478.70/km2) |
| Time zone | UTC-6 (Central (CST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-5 (CDT) |
| ZIP code |
73098
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| Area code(s) | 405 |
| FIPS code | 40-82400 |
| GNIS feature ID | 2412312 |
Wynnewood is a city in Garvin County, Oklahoma, United States. It is about 67 miles (108 km) south of Oklahoma City. In 2020, 1,927 people lived there.
Wynnewood started as a small village called "Walner" in 1886. It was located in what was then the Chickasaw Nation of Indian Territory. Railroad workers from Pennsylvania named the community after Wynnewood, a town near Philadelphia. The name became official on April 6, 1887.
Contents
History of Wynnewood
When Wynnewood was founded, it was part of Pickens County, Chickasaw Nation.
Wynnewood quickly grew into a busy market town for the farms nearby. In 1887, a teacher named Mary Semple Hotchkins moved her school for Chickasaw children to Wynnewood. Later, in 1901, local people helped pay to build Indianola College.
By 1907, Wynnewood was called "the Queen City of the Famous Washita Valley." It had an opera house, electric lights, telephones, and a large, thirty-room hotel called the Eskridge Hotel.
The Eskridge Hotel stayed open until 1970. In 1973, the Wynnewood Historical Society bought the building. They turned the three-story hotel into a museum about local history. Some of the old hotel rooms are now decorated to show what life was like in Oklahoma in the late 1800s and early 1900s. In 1978, the old hotel was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
Geography of Wynnewood
Wynnewood is located in the southeastern part of Garvin County. The city covers about 1.55 square miles (4.03 square kilometers) of land. There is no water area within the city limits.
The Washita River, which flows into the Red River, is just west of Wynnewood.
The city is where U.S. Highway 77 and State Highway 29 meet. Highway 29 connects Wynnewood to Interstate 35 to the west. U.S. Highway 77 goes northwest about 9 miles (14 km) to Pauls Valley, which is the county seat. It goes south about 10 miles (16 km) to Davis.
Population of Wynnewood
| Historical population | |||
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| Census | Pop. | %± | |
| 1900 | 1,907 | — | |
| 1910 | 2,002 | 5.0% | |
| 1920 | 2,200 | 9.9% | |
| 1930 | 1,820 | −17.3% | |
| 1940 | 2,318 | 27.4% | |
| 1950 | 2,423 | 4.5% | |
| 1960 | 2,509 | 3.5% | |
| 1970 | 2,374 | −5.4% | |
| 1980 | 2,615 | 10.2% | |
| 1990 | 2,451 | −6.3% | |
| 2000 | 2,367 | −3.4% | |
| 2010 | 2,212 | −6.5% | |
| 2020 | 1,927 | −12.9% | |
| U.S. Decennial Census | |||
In 2000, there were 2,367 people living in Wynnewood. There were 965 households and 607 families. About 29.4% of households had children under 18. The average household had 2.39 people.
The population was spread out by age. About 26.0% were under 18 years old. About 20.3% were 65 years or older. The average age was 39 years.
Economy of Wynnewood
For many years, Wynnewood's economy was mostly based on farming. In the early 1900s, farmers grew pecans, peaches, corn, wheat, oats, and cotton. There was a cottonseed oil company and four cotton gins to support the cotton industry.
The oil industry grew in Garvin County in the 1920s. The Texas Pacific Coal and Oil Company built an oil refinery in Wynnewood between 1922 and 1923. A refinery is a factory that turns crude oil into useful products like gasoline.
The Kerr-McGee Company bought the refinery in 1950. By 1957, the refinery employed almost as many people as all other jobs in the Wynnewood area combined. The Gary-Williams Energy Corporation bought the refinery in 1995. In 2012, a famous investor named Carl Icahn bought a major share in CVR Industries, which owned the Wynnewood refinery. As of 2015, the Wynnewood refinery was one of only five operating in Oklahoma.
Media in Wynnewood
The local newspaper, The Wynnewood Gazette, started in 1906. It is still published today. In 1979, the Gazette reported a story from nearby Elmore City. It was about whether high school students could dance at a graduation party. This was because a town rule banned public dancing. This story became famous and was the main idea for the 1984 movie Footloose.
Other old newspapers in Wynnewood included the Wynnewood Republic and the Wynnewood Times.
Notable people from Wynnewood
- James Allen, a former professional football player for the Chicago Bears and Houston Texans.
- Tommy Franks, a general who led the invasion forces in Afghanistan (Operation Enduring Freedom) and Iraq (Operation Iraqi Freedom).
- Roy Milton (1907–1983), a famous musician and bandleader.
- Donna Shirley, who led the Mars Pathfinder project at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
See also
In Spanish: Wynnewood (Oklahoma) para niños
