Editing Kay County, Oklahoma (section)

==History==
The remains of two large 18th-century villages, the [[Deer Creek/Bryson Paddock Sites]], of [[Wichita people|Wichita]] Native Americans have been found overlooking the [[Arkansas River]] in Kay County. The [[Osage Nation|Osage]] used Kay County for hunting in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. In 1825, the Osage ceded to the U.S. government their rights to a large expanse of land, including Kay County, and the government gave the [[Cherokee]] ownership of the land after their migration to Oklahoma in the 1830s.<ref name="EOHC-KayCo"/>

After the Civil War, the Cherokee Nation was forced to allow the federal government to relocate other Native American tribes to settle in the area known as the Cherokee Outlet. The [[Kaw people|Kansa (Kaw)]] arrived in June 1873, settling in what became the northeastern part of Kay County. The Ponca followed in 1877. The [[Nez Perce people|Nez Perce]] came from the Pacific Northwest in 1879, but remained only until 1885, when they returned to their earlier homeland. Their assigned land in Oklahoma was then occupied by the [[Tonkawa]] and [[Lipan Apache people]]s. Most of Kay County became open to non-Native American settlement in 1893 with the [[Cherokee Strip Land Run]] in which thousands of people rushed into Kay County to claim free land.<ref name="EOHC-KayCo"/>

The [[Chilocco Indian Agricultural School]], north of Newkirk, was a boarding school for Indians that operated from 1884 to 1980. Its enrollment peaked at 1,300 in the 1950s and its graduates include members of 126 Indian tribes. The distinguished old buildings of the school were constructed of local limestone.<ref>Brumley, Kim. ''Chilocco: Memories of a Native American Boarding School.'' Fairfax, OK: Guardian Publishing Co., 2010, p. 37</ref>

In 2010, the [[Keystone Pipeline|Keystone-Cushing Pipeline]] (Phase II) was constructed north to south through Kay County to [[Cushing, Oklahoma|Cushing]] in [[Payne County, Oklahoma|Payne County]].

On September 17, 2024, the [[National Park Service]] announced that Kay County and Ponca City were jointly named a [[World War II Heritage City]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=National Park Service Announces New American World War II Heritage Cities - Sept 2024 - Office of Communications (U.S. National Park Service) |url=https://www.nps.gov/orgs/1207/national-park-service-announces-new-american-world-war-ii-heritage-cities-sept-2024.htm |access-date=2024-09-18 |website=www.nps.gov |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Media |first=Griffin |title=Ponca City Recognized As American World War II Heritage City |url=https://www.news9.com/story/66e9a58251ef992c9701acff/ponca-city-recognized-as-american-world-war-ii-heritage-city |access-date=2024-09-18 |website=www.news9.com |language=en}}</ref>