Oklahoma’s Remarkable Growth
The growth of fourteen years in Oklahoma is material for a fairy tale. One can not grasp the situation except by a face-to-face vision. The opening of the country to settlement is of such recent occurrence that it seems impossible to believe the frontier shack has disappeared and that cities with every modern improvement have come into being. Paved streets, extensive rapid transit facilities, five and six-story buildings, modern homes, and fine school advantages are assumed to be conditioned on at least a generation of growth. In 1900, Oklahoma City had a population of 10,000. To-day it is a city of 28,000. At the same time Guthrie had 6,000 and now has 18,000. Shawnee had a little over 4,000 and now has 16,000. Lawton was a point on a lonely Indian trail, and now has over 10,000, while Hobart, with over 8,000, sprung from the same condition. Time fails to speak in detail of Enid, an aspirant for capital honors and a city of 10,000, El Reno, Pawnee, Anadarko, King Fisher, Perry and a score of other cities ranging in population from 2,500 to 8,000. —Selected.