Editing Pawnee, Oklahoma (section)

==History==
The [[Pawnee Agency and Boarding School Historic District|Pawnee Agency and Pawnee Boarding School]] were established after the Pawnee tribe came to this area in 1875. The Pawnee Agency was designated as a post office on May 4, 1876. The area was opened to non-Indian settlers on September 16, 1893, during the [[Land Run of 1893|Cherokee Outlet Opening]]. Townsite Number Thirteen (later Pawnee) had been designated as the temporary county seat. The post office was redesignated from Pawnee Agency to Pawnee on October 26, 1893. The town incorporated on April 16, 1894. On September 9, 1895, the townspeople dedicated a stone county courthouse.<ref name="EOHC-Pawnee" />

The [[Eastern Oklahoma Railway]], which later became part of the [[Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway]], built a line through Pawnee between 1900 and 1902. In 1902, the [[Arkansas Valley and Western Railway]] (later the [[St. Louis and San Francisco Railway]]) also built a line through the city. The railroads enabled Pawnee to develop as an agricultural trade center. The population was 1,943 at statehood in 1907.<ref name="EOHC-Pawnee" /> Since statehood, Pawnee has seen a overall decline in population with the [[2020 United States census|2020 Census]] reporting a population of 1,936.

Pawnee continued to develop during the [[Great Depression]], largely because of Federal works projects.  A hospital to care for the Ponca, Pawnee, Kaw, Otoe, and Tonkawa people opened January 15, 1931.  A new school building at the Osage Agency opened in 1932. [[Pawnee County Courthouse (Oklahoma)|A new county courthouse]] was also built in 1932.<ref name="EOHC-Pawnee" />  Finally, the federal government built a reservoir named Pawnee Lake two miles north of town in 1932; the lake has 5.4 miles of shoreline, a surface area of 310 acres, and a maximum depth of 24.3 feet.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.wildlifedepartment.com/fishing/wheretofish/northeast/pawnee-lake |title=Pawnee Lake|publisher=Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation|accessdate=July 4, 2024}}</ref>