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Historical
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THE GRANDFIELD HISTORICAL
PRESERVATION COMMITTEE
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Miss Oklahoma 1998 - Julie Payne
Grandfield is the Home of Miss Oklahoma 1998
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She was Clearly Robbed of the Miss USA and Miss Universe titles...Just Look at Her!
Miss Julie Payne
(She is NOW Mrs. Julie Payne Coody)
Miss Oklahoma 1998
Grandfield Statistical Data
Grandfield Statistics
Grandfield is a city in Tillman County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 1,038 at the 2010 census.
Contents
Geography
Grandfield is located at 34°13′49″N 98°41′16″W (34.230213, -98.687646).[4]
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 0.8 square miles (2.1 km2), all of it land.
Climate
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Demographics
As of the census of 2000,[8] there were 1,110 people, 434 households, and 295 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,387.9 people per square mile (535.7/km²). There were 534 housing units at an average density of 667.7 per square mile (257.7/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 71.98% White, 9.37% African American, 3.51% Native American, 0.18% Asian, 11.17% from other races, and 3.78% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 18.92% of the population.
There were 434 households out of which 31.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.0% were married couples living together, 10.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.0% were non-families. 30.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 16.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.49 and the average family size was 3.10.
In the city, the population was spread out with 25.9% under the age of 18, 7.7% from 18 to 24, 24.1% from 25 to 44, 22.8% from 45 to 64, and 19.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 92.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.0 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $21,500, and the median income for a family was $27,222. Males had a median income of $23,281 versus $16,250 for females. The per capita income for the city was $13,823. About 20.7% of families and 26.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 38.6% of those under age 18 and 10.8% of those age 65 or over.
Opening the Big Pasture
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The Big Pasture, approximately 480,000 acres (1,900 km2) bounded on the south by the Red River and presently located in parts of Comanche, Cotton, and Tillman counties, was the last settled territory in Oklahoma. Native control of the land traces to the Quapaw, who ceded it to the United States in 1818. The Choctaw and Chickasaw accepted the area in the 1820s and 1830s but lost it as a result of the Reconstruction Treaty of 1866. By the terms of the Medicine Lodge Treaty of 1867 a reservation that included the Big Pasture was set-aside for the Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache. The land became part of Oklahoma Territory in December 1906.
Opening bids to quarter-sections of the Big Pasture to prospective homesteader began on December 3 and ended on December 15, 1909. There were over 100,000 bids for the available 1,830 quarter-sections. Bids varied from $5,800.00 to $7,376.00.
Prior to the opening of the area, the United States platted five official townships: Randlett, Ahpeatone, Isadore, Quanah and Eschiti. The only town remaining today is Randlett. Eschiti was the official town nearest the present site of Grandfield.
North Texas Cattle Barons (source: Oklahoma Historical Society)
The Founding
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Problems began when the Wichita Falls and Northwestern Railroad missed Eschiti by two miles and Kell City (named for the railroad promoter Frank Kell of Wichita Falls) sprang up along the railroad's route.
By 1907, Eschiti had an official United States Post Office and Kell City had the railroad. Citizens from both towns were in heated competition for new settlers and businesses moving to the area.
To try to settle the differences, Reverend Andrew J. Tant, a Baptist minister and homesteader, went into partnership with Frank Kell and offered free lots to businesses if they would relocate to the Tant farm, which would eventually become Grandfield. Since the Tant farm was contiguous to Kell City, people willingly moved. Free lots were also promised to all churches and schools. Observers at that time wrote they could look through their windows and see lines of houses being moved. According to Mrs. Lawrence Hooks, an early settler, she once cooked breakfast in Eschiti and dinner in Grandfield, without leaving her house.
A committee appealed to the United States Post Office to establish a post office. Assistant Postmaster General Charles P. Grandfield was helpful in granting the request. Consequently, the town was named in his honor. On January 16, 1909, Grandfield citizens voted, almost unanimously, for incorporation, and the post office opened January 21, 1909. In 1910 the population stood at 830.[9] The town's founders and early residents came from a variety of locations, backgrounds, cultures and religions; the States of Kentucky, Tennessee, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas and Texas were well represented, and a substantial number of newly arrived European immigrants also made their homes in Grandfield.
The Oil Boom
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There were two oil fields discovered in the Grandfield area: the Northwest Oil Field;[10] and the Red River Oil Field.[11] The influence of the oil industry on Grandfield cannot be overstated. The closing of the Bell Oil and Refinery Company refinery in the 1960s arguably started the population decline.[citation needed]
Grandfield Oilfield c.1917 (source: Okla. Hist.Soc. ibid)
Sports
Grandfield High School won
the Oklahoma High School
Football Class C Championship
in 1948 and 1958.[12] Switching
from 11-man to 8-man football,
they captured two Class C state
football championships in
1992 and 1993. They also won
the Girls Basketball Championship
in 1968.[12]
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Despite the influence of All State forward Kenneth Johnson, the Boys Basketball team came up short in the 1978 Class B title game, losing to New Lima, the defending Class B champions.[14] During an era without a three-point scoring line, Johnson scored an Oklahoma state record 105 points on January 6, 1979 against Terral (OK) High School.[15] He also set state records for most points in a season (1,280 in 1978-79), and most points in a career (3,191).[16]
Grandfield's First Football Team in Front of the First Brick High School c. 1914
(Source: The History of Tillman County, Vol.1)
Historic Places
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Grandfield's historic places included the Grandfield Downtown Historic District (National Register Reference number NR 02000656), the William and Mabel Donahoo Hubbard House (National Register Number NR 91000310), the Humphreys Drugstore Building (NR 92000797), the Rock Island Depot Building (NR 96000978), and the Tillman County Bank of Grandfield (NR 92000796).[17]
Humphrey's Drug, 1914
The Hubbard House, c.1914
Brand New in 1914
References
(this page only. For a complete list visite the references page)
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"Places: Oklahoma". 2010 Census Gazetteer Files. United States Census Bureau. Retrieved May 9, 2014. External link in |work= (help)
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"Feature Detail Report: Grandfield". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. Retrieved May 9, 2014.
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"FIPS55 Data: Oklahoma". FIPS55 Data. United States Geological Survey. February 23, 2006. Archived from the original on June 18, 2006. External link in |work= (help)
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"US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990". United States Census Bureau. 2011-02-12. Retrieved 2011-04-23.
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Monthly Average/Record Temperatures". The Weather Channel. Retrieved 28 March 2016.
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"Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Incorporated Places: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2015". Archived from the original on June 2, 2016. Retrieved July 2, 2016.
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"Census of Population and Housing". Census.gov. Archived from the original on May 12, 2015. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
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"American FactFinder". United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on 2013-09-11. Retrieved 2008-01-31.
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Watson, Louise (2007). "Oklahoma Historical Society's Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture - Grandfield". Oklahoma Historical Society. Retrieved January 10, 2013.
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"Featured Detail Report for: Northwest Oil Field". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. c. 1979. Retrieved January 1, 2013.
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"Featured Detail Report for: Red River Oil Field". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. c. 1979. Retrieved January 1, 2013.
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"Oklahoma High School Championship Games". c. 2004. Retrieved January 1, 2013.
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"Oklahoma State Championships, Girls Basketball, 1960-1969". c. 2004. Retrieved January 1, 2013.
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Tramel, Berry (c. 2007). "Top 100 Sports Teams in Oklahoma History". Daily Oklahoman. Archived from the original on June 19, 2010. Retrieved January 13, 2013.
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Goodman, Jeff (July 16). "Two high school players top 100-point mark". SchoolSport.com. Retrieved January 13, 2013. Check date values in: |date= (help)
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Lewis, Berry (March 1, 2008). "Clarke breaks career points mark". Tulsa World. Retrieved January 13, 2013.
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Watson, Louise (2007). "Oklahoma Historical Society's Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture - Grandfield". Oklahoma Historical Society. Retrieved January 11, 2013.
Further reading
History of Tillman County, Vol. 2. Frederick, OK: Tillman County Historical Society, 1978
Watson, Louise Michael. Come tour with me: tales of the Big Pasture. Stillwater, OK: New Forms Press, 1995
Watson, Louise Michael and Charles Woosley. Grandpa was a rounder: tales of the trails. Stillwater, OK: New Forums Press, 1997
Watson, Louise Michael. Big Pasture: a place and time in Oklahoma history: a mini book of many facts. Grandfield, OK: L.M. Watson [distributor], 1997
Wyatt, Robert Lee, III. Grandfield The Hub of the Big Pasture Volume I. Marceline, MO: Walsworth Publishers, 1974
Wyatt, Robert Lee, III. The Gateway to the Big Pasture: Devol. Marceline, MO: Walsworth Publishers, 1974
Wyatt, Robert Lee, III. Grandfield The Hub of the Big Pasture Volume II. Marceline, MO: Walsworth Publishers, 1975
Wyatt, Robert Lee, III. Grandfield The Hub of the Big Pasture Volume III. Stillwater, OK: New Forums Press, 1997
Wyatt, Robert Lee, III, Ph.D. (Foreword by Peggy Haverstock). The History of the Haverstock Tent Show: "The Show with a Million Friends." Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 1997
External links
DemographicsWiki
Page References
Founding
Openng the Big Pasture
Oil Boom
Sports
Historical Places
This is NOT a Tombstone!
Inscribed on it are these words...
Big Pasture
When Kiowa - Comanche - Apache lands in Oklahoma opened to white settlement 1901. There were 505,000 acres reserved as grazing lands. This area became known as Big Pasture most of region leased for cattle ranching.
Because of soil's fertility, white people sought opening of Big Pasture to settlement and farming. Congress passed Act, signed by President Theodore Roosevelt June 5, 1906, providing such opening. Beginning December 10, 1906, farm lands and town lots sold to highest bidders on sealed bid basis. Bids opened starting March 15, 1907. Was the last big land opening in Oklahoma.
Within one year's time 2,337 families living in Big Pasture area. Eschiti and Kell, competing towns, combined in 1908 to found Grandfield.
Only few miles from here, April of 1905, famous wolf hunt was held led by President Theodore Roosevelt.
Captain R. B. March and troops, with Lt. George B. McClellan second in command, passed short distance north of this point 1852 on way to find source of Red River.
- Oklahoma Historical Society 1962 -
There is little chance any of our forefathers would be planting wheat or growing cotton or, for that matter, ranching cattle in markets where all three are fixed by persons a thousand-miles away who quite probably have never seen any of these in production. These pioneers grew the lot because that agriculture made them money. Wheat is $3.58/bu on today's commodity listing, not all that far off the value at the state-of-Oklahoma's conception, a hundred years ago! The author's Grandfather paid for a quarter-mile-section with one wheat crop! Why should we remain complacent, and "Dancing with the One Who Brung Us?" when so little is offered? It is up to farmers and ranchers nationwide to revoke the license to control our market shares and our futures. Welfare checks under the guise of "Farm Aid" have done little to provide relief to this crisis. What will WE do?
The Plan
There's a darned good
reason why the awesome
folks of Grandfield feel
safer than a frog in God's
pocket...Badlands
Tactical Training
Facility is located in Grandfield
along with its originator and owner, ALSO the Tillman County Sheriff, Bobby Whittington! Sheriff Whittington is a veteran, a father, husband, and life-long citizen of Grandfield, and serves as a perfect example of what a man should aspire to be. . Sheriff Whittington is also accompanied by many in Grandfield just like him, a rarity in larger town where this persona is discouraged.
Mission Statement
Badlands Tactical Training
Area Maps
Area Map
Refinery
a Refinery
Phillips, the Bell Oil and Gas, once brought Grandfield wealth and prosperity...and people. What was once will be again. In this new age of lgreen technologies Grandfield sits at the forefront of agricultural and economic development in these United States...
the Grandfield Green Power Initiative
and the Grandfield Water Resources Commission
are just two of the municipal developments set in place to allow farmers on both a local and nation-wide scale to "grow" their own fuel and to provide irrigation water as well as a resource for fresh potable drinking water from now on.
Green Power
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