Editing Grant County, Oklahoma (section)

==History==
[[File:Masonic Lodge of Pond Creek, OK.JPG|thumb|right|[[Pond Creek Masonic Lodge No. 125]]]]

Grant County was part of the [[Cherokee Nation]]'s [[Cherokee Outlet]] until it was opened to non-Indian settlers in response to public demand on September 16, 1893. Settlers named the county after President [[Ulysses S. Grant]]<ref>{{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/n140 141]}}</ref> in a general election held November 6, 1894. Congress originally designated this area as County L in [[Oklahoma Territory]], with the county seat at [[Pond Creek, Oklahoma|Pond Creek]]. Medford became the county seat through an election held on May 27, 1908.<ref name="EOHC-GrantCo">[http://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=GR009 Wilson, Linda D. The ''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture''. "Grant County."] Accessed January 8, 2017.</ref>

The Chicago, Kansas and Nebraska Railway (later the [[Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway]]) built a railroad from northern [[Kansas]] through Grant County in 1889 and 1890. In 1897, the Gulf Railroad (later the [[Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway]], AT&SF) linked Manchester, Wakita, Medford, and Deer Creek. At the start of the 20th century, the Blackwell, Enid and Southwestern Railroad (later the [[St. Louis and San Francisco Railway]]) passed through Lamont. Still later, the Denver, Enid and Gulf Railroad (later the AT&SF) reached Nash (Nashville).<ref name="EOHC-GrantCo"/>

The railroads gave the county access to markets in the northern and eastern U.S., helping turn the county into a major agriculture and cattle producer. At statehood, the principal crops were wheat, corn, oats, alfalfa, and forage sorghum. The county also had more than fourteen thousand each of hogs and cattle as well as almost thirteen thousand horses.<ref name="EOHC-GrantCo"/>

Bethel was the site of a post office in Grant County that existed from March 12, 1895, until November 2, 1895.<ref>Shirk, ''Oklahoma Place Names'', pg. 23; "No longer in existence."</ref>

Florence was the site of a post office in Grant Co. that existed prior to 1908 but ceased to exist ''circa'' 1920, after the post office closed, per information acquired in researching an ancestor, Isaac Arnold, who was postmaster in Florence from August 1908 to 1920.{{citation needed|date=October 2013}}

In October 2024, four of the sheriff's department deputies resigned at the same time. This left the sheriff's office with one deputy.<ref name=ThomasKileeDeputies>{{cite web|last=Thomas|first=Kilee|url=https://www.koco.com/article/oklahyoma-grant-county-sheriffs-office-resignations/62739771|title=Grant County Sheriff's Office left with 1 deputy following mass resignations|publisher=[[KOCO-TV]]|date=2024-10-28|access-date=2024-11-04}}</ref>