Volume 13 , Issue 28

History of Woods County Oklahoma

According to the The Oklahoma Red book, page 521, the miscellaneous information shows the County Assessor as T. J. Dyer; County Commissioners as L. A. Clinkenbeard, J. E. Patterson and William Barker. the Population in 1907 was 15,5517; 1910 population was 17,567.

Woods County was created on 1893 from the Cherokee Outlet. The County was named for a noted Kansas pioneer, politician and legislator, Samuel N. Wood, who was assassinated two years before the opening of the Cherokee Outlet lands to settlement. Many of his political followers who regarded him as a martyr, settled in Oklahoma, and in preparing the ballot to vote on his name the letter "s" was inadvertently added. The County Seat is Alva.

The history of Woods county was originally county "M" but by the reorganization of it and Woodward county by the constitutional convention, in 1907, the northeastern portion of the original county was made "Alfalfa" county.

A portion was taken from the south half and named Major. The northeastern part with a small portion of old Woodward, retained the original name of Woods, which name was given it in honor of Sam Wood, a lawyer of Kansas. Woods "M" county back then had an area of approximately 1,200 square miles.

The wooded area back then was about 6,500 acres, the hill region 30,000 acres, and the tillable land about 700,000 acres. Agriculture and stock raising were the chief industries. Wheat, corn, alfalfa, hay, forage sorghum, potatoes and cotton are among the products.

A few weeks ago in the local Northwest Oklahoma newspaper we read where the state legislature of Oklahoma was trying to merge the 77 counties of Oklahoma down to half that number so the counties have a population of 20,000 or more. How do some of you Oklahomans feel about that? Good? Bad? Ugly?   |  View or Add Comments (3 Comments)   |   Receive updates ( subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

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