Editing Lawton, Oklahoma (section)

==History==
{{Main|History of Lawton, Oklahoma}}
The territory of present-day Oklahoma was long settled by ancient cultures of prehistoric American Indians, including the [[Clovis culture|Clovis]], 11500 [[Common Era|BCE]]; [[Folsom tradition|Folsom]], 10600 BCE; and [[Plano cultures|Plainview]], 10000 BCE cultures.

The valleys of the [[Arkansas River]] and [[Red River of the South|Red River]] were the center of [[Caddoan Mississippian culture]], which began to develop about 800 CE. The people developed more dense settlement and a complex architecture of earthwork platform mounds. Archeological evidence has shown that these people were the direct ancestors of the historic Caddoan-language peoples who inhabited the larger region, including the [[Caddo]] and the [[Wichita people|Wichita]] peoples.

In the 16th century, Spanish explorer [[Francisco Vásquez de Coronado]] visited in 1541, beginning European contact. Around the 1700s, two tribes from the north, the Comanche and Kiowa, migrated to the Oklahoma and Texas regions.<ref name="okhistory">{{cite web |url=http://www.odl.state.ok.us/almanac/2005/14-histry.pdf |publisher=Oklahoma Department of Libraries |title=Oklahoma Almanac 2005 |department=Oklahoma History |pages=687–691 |access-date=2011-04-25 |df=dmy-all |archive-date=March 3, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303210110/http://www.odl.state.ok.us/almanac/2005/14-histry.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

For most of the 18th century, the French exerted nominal control over the Oklahoma region as part of [[Louisiana (New France)|French Louisiana]]. The largest French settlements were along the Gulf Coast, in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama. The limited interaction between the Native American and European peoples was based on [[fur trading]].

In 1803, the French sold this territory as [[Louisiana Purchase]] to the US, under President  [[Thomas Jefferson]]. European Americans continued to migrate into the Southeast and across the [[Mississippi River]] into Indian territories, especially seeking territory to expand cotton cultivation, which was a lucrative commodity crop. They pressured the government to give them access to Indian lands. In 1830, under President [[Andrew Jackson]], Congress passed the [[Indian Removal Act]], which removed American Indian tribes from the Southeast and relocated them to [[Indian Territory]] west of the [[Mississippi River]].

The southern part of this territory was originally assigned to the [[Choctaw]] and [[Chickasaw]]. Following the Civil War, during which most of the Southeast tribes had allied with the Confederacy, in 1867, the United States required new treaties of peace. In 1867, under the [[Medicine Lodge Treaty]], it allotted the southwest portion of former Choctaw and Chickasaw lands to the Comanche, Kiowa, and Apache tribes. It had forced them to move out of East Texas and nearby areas of Arkansas.<ref name="okhistory" /><ref>{{cite book|last=Kappler |first=Charles |title=Indian Affairs: Laws and treaties |volume=2 |publisher=Government Printing Office |page=755 |location=Washington D.C. |year=1903 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GdEUAAAAYAAJ&q=lodge&pg=PA755 |df=dmy-all}}</ref>

Fort Sill was established in 1869 after the American Civil War and commanded by Major General [[Philip Sheridan]]. He was leading a campaign in Indian Territory to stop raids into Texas by American Indian tribes.<ref name="sill history">{{cite web |url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/fort-sill.htm |title=Fort Sill |website=Globalsecurity.org |access-date=May 23, 2010 |df=dmy-all}}</ref> In 1874, the [[Red River War]] broke out in the region when the Comanche, Kiowa, and Southern Cheyenne left their Indian Territory reservation. Attrition and skirmishes by the US Army finally forced the return of the tribes to Indian Territory in June 1875.<ref name="sill history"/>

In 1891, the United States Congress appointed a commission to meet with the tribal leaders and come to an agreement allowing White settlement. Years of controversy and legal maneuvering ensued before President [[William McKinley]] issued a proclamation on 4&nbsp;July 1901, that gave the federal government control over {{convert|2000000|acre|km2|abbr=on}} of "surplus" Indian lands that remained after allotments of communal tribal lands to individual households under the Dawes Act.<ref>''[[Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock]]'', 187 U.S. 553 (1903).</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Kappler |first=Charles |title=Indian Affairs: Laws and treaties |volume=1 |publisher=Government Printing Office |page=1012| location=Washington, DC |year=1904 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H4UTAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1012 |df=dmy-all}}</ref> Under other legislation, the United States through the Dawes Commission allotted communal lands as plots to individual households of tribal members, selling off what remained as "surplus". These actions extinguished the tribal claims to communal lands, a condition needed for the admission of Oklahoma as a state in 1907.

[[File:General Henry W. Lawton.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=Major General Henry Ware Lawton| Major General Henry Ware Lawton]]
After these changes, the legislature of the new state began to organize counties. Three 320-acre sites in [[Kiowa County, Oklahoma|Kiowa]], [[Caddo County, Oklahoma|Caddo]] and [[Comanche County, Oklahoma|Comanche]] counties were selected for county seats. Lawton was designated as the Comanche County seat. The town was named for Major General [[Henry W. Lawton]], a quartermaster at Fort Sill, who had taken part in the pursuit and capture of Apache chief [[Geronimo]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.militarymuseum.org/Lawton.html |publisher=The California Military Museum |title=Major-General Henry Ware Lawton, U.S. Volunteers |access-date=2010-05-23 |df=dmy-all}}</ref>

The city was opened to settlement through an auction of town lots beginning on 6&nbsp;August 1901, which was completed 60 days later.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kutchta |first=Howard |title=Lawton, a centennial history, 1901-2001 |publisher=Bell Books |year=2001 |pages=7–8}}</ref> By 25&nbsp;September 1901, the [[Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad|Rock Island Railroad]] expanded to Lawton and was soon joined by the [[St. Louis - San Francisco Railway|Frisco Line]].<ref>Kutchta (2001) p.&nbsp;10</ref> The first city elections were held 24&nbsp;October 1901.<ref>Kutchta (2001) p.&nbsp;15</ref>

The United States' entry into [[World War I]] accelerated development at Fort Sill and Lawton. The availability of {{convert|5|e6USgal|m3}} of water from [[Lake Lawtonka]], just north of Fort Sill, was a catalyst for the War Department to establish a major cantonment named [[Camp Doniphan, Oklahoma|Camp Doniphan]]. It was active until 1922.<ref>Kutchta (2001) p.&nbsp;28</ref>

Similarly, the US response in World War II stimulated activity and expansion at Fort Sill and Lawton. The city's population increased from 18,055 to 34,757 from 1940 to 1950.<ref name="pop data">{{cite web |publisher=Oklahoma Department of Commerce |access-date=2010-05-13 |url=http://www.okcommerce.gov/Libraries/Documents/Historical_Census_Population%3B_City_by_County_1890_to_2000_0812041317.pdf |title=Historical census population; City by County 1890 to 2000 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100601162831/http://www.okcommerce.gov/Libraries/Documents/Historical_Census_Population%3B_City_by_County_1890_to_2000_0812041317.pdf |archive-date=2010-06-01 |df=dmy-all}}</ref> By the 1960s, it had reached 61,697.<ref name="pop data"/>

[[File:Oklahoma - Lawton - NARA - 68147164 (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|Lawton in 1933]]

In the postwar period, Lawton underwent tremendous growth during the late 1940s and 1950s, leading city officials to seek additional water sources to supplement existing water from Lake Lawtonka. In the late 1950s, the city purchased large parcels of land along East Cache Creek in northern Comanche County for the construction of a dam and human-made lake, built in 1959 on the creek just north of U.S. 277 west of Elgin. [[Lake Ellsworth (Oklahoma)|Lake Ellsworth]], named for a former Lawton mayor, soft-drink bottler C.R. Ellsworth, was dedicated in the early 1960s. It offered additional water resources, but also recreational opportunities and flood control along Cache Creek.<ref>Kutchta (2001) p.&nbsp;72</ref>

In 1966, the Lawton City Council annexed several square miles of land on the city's east, northeast, west, and northwest borders, expanding east beyond the East Cache Creek area and west to 82nd Street.<ref>{{cite map |publisher=Oklahoma Department of Transportation |title=Official State Highway Map |edition=1954}}</ref><ref>{{cite map |publisher=Oklahoma Department of Transportation |title=Official State Highway Map |edition=1975}}</ref> On 1&nbsp;March 1964, the north section of the [[H. E. Bailey Turnpike]] was completed, connecting Lawton directly to Oklahoma City, the capital. The south section of the turnpike leading to the Texas border was completed on April 23, 1964.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pikepass.com/about/History.aspx |publisher=Oklahoma Turnpike Authority |title=History |access-date=2011-09-27 |df=dmy-all}}</ref>

Urban-renewal efforts in the 1970s transformed downtown Lawton. A number of buildings dating to the city's founding were demolished to build an [[Central Plaza (Oklahoma)|enclosed shopping mall]], which was believed to provide a suburban attraction for shoppers.<ref name="okstate"/>

On June 23, 1998, the city expanded when Lawton annexed neighboring Fort Sill.<ref>Kutchta (2001) p.&nbsp;100</ref> The [[Base Realignment and Closure, 2005|Base Realignment and Closure of 2005]] resulted in reassignment of people from other bases and consolidation of some military activities at Fort Sill, increasing the number of people assigned there and its scope of activities. Lawton expects a continuing benefit of population and economic growth over the course of the next 20&nbsp;years.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://newsok.com/lawton-figures-fort-sill-annex-to-add-12500/article/2616730|title=Lawton figures Fort Sill annex to add 12500}}</ref><!-- Explain how closure expands the size of Fort Sill; seems counter-intuitive -->