Editing Commerce, Oklahoma (section)

==History==
[[File:Okterritory.png|thumb|left]]
What became Commerce was land that was part of the [[Quapaw Indian Agency]],<ref name="encycOK"/> allocated in the late 1830s. The [[Quapaw]] were removed to the area in the 1830s by the federal government after residing for hundreds of years on the west side of the [[Mississippi River]] in what later entered the union as the state of [[Arkansas]].

Immigrants arrived and formed a [[mining camp]] named Hattonville after Amos Hatton. In 1906, Hatton developed the Emma Gordon [[zinc mining|zinc and lead mine]], whose resources had attracted workers.<ref name="encycOK"/> Starting in 1908, the [[Northeast Oklahoma Railroad#History|Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri Inter-Urban Railway]] built a line between Miami and Commerce to serve the mining industry.<ref name="encycOK"/> In a series of steps the [[List of Oklahoma railroads#Defunct|line was later acquired]] by the [[St. Louis–San Francisco Railway]].  In 1913, the residents called the local post office North Miami, though by June 1914 the post office took the present-day city's name that came from the Commerce Mining and Royalty Company, which had bought the mining camp.<ref name="encycOK"/>

In 1914, the mining company platted the town; a [[mayor–council government]] formed two years later.<ref name="encycOK"/> By the [[1920 United States Census|1920 census]], Commerce had a population of 2,555.  The town's population has remained roughly the same size ever since.

Commerce was on [[U.S. Route 66|Route 66]] when that highway was commissioned in 1926,<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.legendsofamerica.com/66-timeline/ |title=Route 66 timeline|publisher=LegendsofAmerica|accessdate=September 13, 2020}}</ref> and was the first town on the [[U.S. Route 66 in Oklahoma|route through Oklahoma]] after crossing the Kansas border westbound.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.route66roadtrip.com/route-66-kansas-to-tulsa.htm|title=Road Trip on Route 66 From Kansas to Tulsa|publisher=Route66RoadTrip.com|accessdate=September 13, 2020}}</ref>

Commerce was the site of two notable events in the mid-1930s. In April 1934, [[Bonnie and Clyde]] and their associate [[Henry Methvin]] killed Commerce Constable William C. Campbell and kidnapped police chief Percy Boyd.<ref name="encycOK"/>  By May, [[Bonnie and Clyde#Ambush and deaths|Bonnie and Clyde]] would both be dead.
In 1935, in an event that would later become notable in retrospect, [[Mickey Mantle]]'s father would move his family to Commerce, to work as a miner.<ref name="mantle">{{cite web |url= https://www.espn.com/new-york/mlb/news/story?id=5188288 |title=New York 500 Home Run Club Mickey Mantle - Yankees |work=ESPN New York |publisher=[[ESPN.com]] |date=June 2, 2010 |access-date=2013-04-18}}</ref> Mantle would later be nicknamed "The Commerce Comet."

Most mines closed by 1960, due to a declining market and the realization of extensive environmental damage to ground, water and air. Residents have turned to occupations such as farming and ranching,<ref name="encycOK"/>