Editing Altus, Oklahoma (section)

==History==
The town that would later be named Altus was founded in 1886.<ref name="osu">[http://countyext.okstate.edu/jackson/JC%20Ec%20Dev.%20Site/comindex/altus.html Altus] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101026020958/http://countyext.okstate.edu/jackson/JC%20Ec%20Dev.%20Site/comindex/altus.html |date=2010-10-26 }}, [http://countyext.okstate.edu/ Oklahoma State University County Extension Service] (accessed May 10, 2010)</ref> The community was originally called "Frazer", a settlement of about 50 people on Bitter Creek that served as a trading post on the [[Great Western Cattle Trail]]. Cowboys driving herds northward often stopped to buy [[buttermilk]] from John McClearan. Thus, the town was known locally as "Buttermilk Station". The Frazer post office opened February 18, 1886. A [[flash flood]] nearly destroyed Frazer on June 4, 1891. The residents moved to higher ground {{convert|2.5|miles|km}} east of the original site. W. R. Baucum suggested renaming the town "Altus", a Latin word meaning "high". This name stuck, although the town was also known as "Leger" from July 10, 1901, to May 14, 1904.<ref name="EOHC-Altus">{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=AL013 |first=Frances |last=Herron |title=Altus |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture |publisher=[[Oklahoma Historical Society]] |date=2009 |edition=online |access-date=January 16, 2014}}</ref>

The population doubled between the time of Oklahoma statehood and the 1910 census and even increased during the [[Great Depression]].<ref name="surv"/> Although Altus had been designated as the Jackson county seat at the time of statehood, an election was held in 1908 to determine the permanent seat. The two towns contending were Altus and [[Olustee, Oklahoma|Olustee]]. Altus won by a vote of 2,077 to 1,365. The county courthouse was built there in 1910.<ref name="EOHC-Altus"/> An irrigation project in the 1940s and World War II led to further growth in the town as the nearby airfield was used to train military pilots.<ref name="surv"/>

In 1908, the [[Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Railway]] (acquired by the [[Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway]] in 1929) built a line through Altus. Around the same time, the Altus, Wichita Falls and Hollis Railway (which became the [[Wichita Falls and Northwestern Railway]] in 1911, then was acquired by the [[Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway]] in 1922) constructed a line from Altus to the Oklahoma-Texas border. The railroads stimulated economic growth in the area and made Altus a regional agricultural center. By 1930, Altus had eight cotton gins, two cotton compresses, and eighteen wholesale businesses.<ref name="EOHC-Altus"/>