Editing Amorita, Oklahoma (section)

==History==
Amorita was founded in September 1901.  It is speculated that ''Amorita'' was likely named after the wife of railroad owner, Charles E. Ingersoll.  At the time of its founding, the area was part of the much larger [[Woods County, Oklahoma|Woods county]].  It did not become part of present-day Alfalfa county until the time of statehood in 1907.<ref name="EOHC-Amorita">{{cite web|last1=Everett|first1=Dianna|title=Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture - Amorita|url=http://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=AM017|website=Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture|publisher=Oklahoma Historical Society|accessdate=June 13, 2016}}</ref>

The town was established in Byron township in 1901 approximately two miles north of the existing town of [[Byron, Oklahoma|Byron]], by what was then known as the [[Choctaw, Oklahoma and Gulf Railroad#Choctaw Northern Railroad|Choctaw Northern Railroad]], later owned by the [[Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad|Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific]].<ref name=EOHC-Amorita/>  In that year, the railroad became the county's first, connecting Amorita to the other Alfalfa county towns of [[Aline, Oklahoma|Aline]], Augusta, [[Ingersoll, Oklahoma|Ingersoll]], [[Lambert, Oklahoma|Lambert]], [[Driftwood, Oklahoma|Driftwood]], and on into Kansas.<ref name=EOHC-AlfalfaCo>{{cite web|last1=Everett|first1=Dianna|title=Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture - Alfalfa County|url=http://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=AL007|website=Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture| publisher=Oklahoma History Center|accessdate=July 7, 2016}}</ref>  City lots were sold when the railroad completed its rail line through the county in November 1901.<ref name="EOHC-Amorita"/>

Although the initial sale of lots in November was small, within a month a butcher shop and a coal and grain business were established, and by February of the following year, two grain elevators were also opened.  Farming was the predominant economic activity in the area at the time.<ref name=EOHC-Amorita/>  The town was temporarily given a competitive advantage as a transportation hub because nearby Byron did not acquire its own competing railroad access (the [[Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Railway]]) until October 1902.<ref name="EOHC-Byron">{{cite web|last1=Everett|first1=Dianna|title=Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture - Byron|url=http://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=BY004|website=Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture|publisher=Oklahoma Historical Society|accessdate=June 13, 2016}}</ref>

Residents voted to incorporate their town in May 1912.  In 1919 a fifty-thousand-dollar bond was approved to construct a new school building for the consolidated schools of Amorita and two other districts. In 1921, voters of both Byron and Amorita jointly approved the construction of power lines extending from Kansas to supply electricity to both their towns.<ref name=EOHC-Amorita/>

The railroad abandoned its line through the town in 1936.  In the 1960s, the Amorita school was consolidated into a single entity along with the nearby districts of [[Burlington, Oklahoma|Burlington]], [[Byron, Oklahoma|Byron]], and [[Driftwood, Oklahoma|Driftwood]], which was located in Burlington.<ref name="EOHC-Amorita"/>