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Please add profiles of those who were born, lived or died in Blaine County, Oklahoma.
History
Blaine County was one of several counties created by the Land Run of 1892. It was designated as county "C" beginning in 1890 before the land run. According to one account, the designation "C" remained until the first public elections in 1892. When the time came to choose another name for the county, there seemed to be roughly equal support for two military heroes: "Sheridan" and "Custer". Before voting began, the chairman gave a stirring speech proposing Blaine, who had recently died, and who was a local favorite. The majority of voters swung behind Blaine's name, which was ultimately chosen for County C. The area was settled by Creek and Seminole, whom the federal government relocated to the area in the 1820s and 1830s. The Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes were relocated to the area from Colorado in 1869, after the Reconstruction Treaties of 1866 had taken the land back from the Creek and Seminole.
The land run was held after giving members of the tribe allotments of 160 acres each.
A post office was established in the county seat of Watonga, Oklahoma, the same year as the land run. The Enid and Anadarko Railway and the Blackwell, Enid and Southwestern Railroad both ran lines through the county from 1901 to 1903. The Blaine County Courthouse was built in 1906.
The town of Geary, which also received a post office in the same year as the land run, became an agricultural trade center in the county.
Adjacent Counties
Communities
- Bucher
- Canton
- Darrow
- Eagle City
- Geary
- Greenfield
- Hitchcock
- Homestead
- Hydro
- Longdale
- Okeene
- Southard
- Watonga (County Seat)
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