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El Reno, Oklahoma
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==History== [[Image:El Reno 1891.png|thumb|left|Panoramic map of El Reno, 1891]] [[File:Oklahoma - El Reno - NARA - 68147130 (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|View of the rail yards in 1944]] The land of Canadian County belonged to the historic [[Cheyenne]] and [[Arapaho]] tribes at the time of European encounter. In 1874, the United States established a fort to supervise the area and General [[Philip Sheridan]] took command. He named it Fort Reno in honor of his friend, Gen. [[Jesse L. Reno]], who was killed in the [[American Civil War]].<ref name="gannett">{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9V1IAAAAMAAJ | title=The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States | publisher=Govt. Print. Off. | author=Gannett, Henry | year=1905 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9V1IAAAAMAAJ/page/n117 118]}}</ref> After the 1889 landrun, there were three entities the local postmaster had to keep separate - Fort Reno, Reno City, and the community township or Village of (El) Reno. The Village of El Reno originated shortly after the 1889 land run, with the post office coming into being in June of that year. Although "el reno" means "the [[reindeer]]" in [[Spanish (language)|Spanish]], the town was actually named, in part, after nearby Fort Reno, with the name "Reno" ultimately derived from [[Anglicized]] French "Reynaud".<ref>{{cite book |last=Warner |first=Ezra J. |author-link=Ezra J. Warner (historian) |title=Generals in Blue: Lives of the Union Commanders |publisher=Louisiana State University Press |location=Baton Rouge, LA |pages = 394|date=1964 |oclc=311808363 |edition=2002 Reprint |language=en }}</ref>. Reindeer are not native to Oklahoma.{{citation needed|date=September 2020}} The town's name was taken from the nearby military post of Fort Reno, with the "el" (meaning "the" in Spanish) later added by the local postmaster to help differentiate the community from the also newly established Reno City. Reno City was located on the north-side of the Canadian River five miles northeast of community of El Reno. The community of El Reno was located on the south-side of the Canadian river. The original village townsite was platted by the Oklahoma Homestead and Town Company on 120 acres of the homestead of John Foreman. In 1890, Foreman's 120 acres along with 80 acres of Thomas Jensen's, were incorporated into the Village of El Reno. After the railroad company announced their rail lines were going to run on the south side of the Canadian river, Reno City relocated to the township of El Reno. The original Reno City site north of the river was abandoned. What remained and continues to this day is Fort Reno and the city of El Reno. El Reno is located on the [[98th meridian west]], about 25 miles west of Oklahoma City. The eastern side of the meridian was opened to non-Indian settlement in the [[Land Rush of 1889]]. The western side was opened in 1892, when the federal government also made some Cheyenne and Arapaho lands available for settlement by non-Native Americans. The town was subsequently selected as the [[land district]] office for the 1901 [[land lottery]] drawings.<ref name="EOHC-ElReno"/> In 1932, the United States Southwestern Reformatory was constructed about {{convert|2|mi|km}} west of El Reno. The federal reformatory housed male adult federal prisoners and was later restricted to house young adult male prisoners, aged 18 to 26. In the mid-1970s it was renamed by the United States Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons, as the [[Federal Correctional Institution, El Reno]] (FCI El Reno). Prisoner age limits were lifted and men of all ages have been incarcerated here ever since. As medium-security prison, it has become the fifth-largest federal prison in the U.S. The prison is still one of the largest employers in El Reno.<ref name="EOHC-ElReno"/> In 2015 President [[Barack Obama]] visited the prison, the first time a sitting president has visited any federal prison.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hGZ7AMk39Q "President Obama Visits the El Reno Federal Correctional Institution." YouTube. July 16, 2015.] Accessed September 9, 2015.</ref> During World War II, [[Fort Reno (Oklahoma)|Fort Reno]], about {{convert|5|mi|abbr=on}} northwest of El Reno, was the site of a [[prisoner of war]] camp for Germans and Italians. The POW cemetery has been preserved and has stones bearing the names of German and Italian prisoners who died there. Following World War II, the US Army determined it did not need the fort. In 1948 the fort was transferred to the [[U.S. Department of Agriculture]], for use as a [[research laboratory]].<ref name="EOHC-ElReno"/> The laboratory studies environmentally sustainable [[forage]] and [[livestock]] production, contributing to preservation of the [[Great Plains]] of North America. At one time, railroads contributed strongly to the city economy. A terminal and repair facility for the [[Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad]] (CRI&P or "Rock Island"), which employed a large number of people, was based here. Some 750 of the company's 970 employees in the state worked in El Reno.<ref name=The405/> Due to changes taking place throughout the railroad industry, the CRI&P went bankrupt in 1979. It abandoned the depot and [[railyard]]s in 1980.<ref name=The405>{{cite magazine |last1=Anderson |first1=Bobby |title=The Trolley That Saved El Reno |url=https://www.405magazine.com/the-trolley-that-saved-el-reno/ |access-date=22 September 2020 |magazine=[[The 405 (magazine)|The 405]] |date=16 January 2016}}</ref> The railyards are still vacant.<ref name="EOHC-ElReno"/>
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