Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in the context of Western Oklahoma


Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in the context of Western Oklahoma

⭐ Core Definition: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Oklahoma City (/ˌkləˈhmə -/ OH-klə-HOH-mə -⁠), often shortened to OKC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. It is the 20th-most populous U.S. city and 8th largest in the Southern United States, with a population of 681,054 at the 2020 census. The Oklahoma City metropolitan area, with an estimated 1.49 million residents, is the largest metropolitan area in the state and 42nd-most populous in the country. It is the county seat of Oklahoma County, with the city limits extending into Canadian, Cleveland, and Pottawatomie counties; however, areas beyond Oklahoma County primarily consist of suburban developments or areas designated rural and watershed zones. Oklahoma City ranks as the tenth-largest city by area in the United States when including consolidated city-counties, and second-largest when such consolidations are excluded. It is also the second-largest state capital by area, after Juneau, Alaska.

Oklahoma City has one of the world's largest livestock markets. Oil, natural gas, petroleum products, and related industries are its economy's largest sector. The city is in the middle of an active oil field, and oil derricks dot the capitol grounds. The federal government employs a large number of workers at Tinker Air Force Base and the United States Department of Transportation's Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center (which house offices of the Federal Aviation Administration and the Transportation Department's Enterprise Service Center, respectively).

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👉 Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in the context of Western Oklahoma

On a simple east/west basis, Western Oklahoma is popularly considered that part of the state west of I-35. I-35 creates a north/south line through the approximate center of the main body of the state (i.e., without regard for the Oklahoma Panhandle), passing through Oklahoma City, the state capital.

However, other definitions are possible. For tourism purposes, the Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation Department breaks the state into six regions. The 14 counties of Southwest Oklahoma, called Great Plains Country, do all fit west of I-35, including the easternmost counties in the grouping, Stephens and Jefferson. But, while most of the 16 counties of Northwest Oklahoma, called Red Carpet Country, are also west of I-35, the two easternmost in that grouping, Kay and Noble, each have some land area east of I-35. Then, the department includes 12 counties in Central Oklahoma, called Frontier Country, around Oklahoma City. Portions of that grouping, like Canadian County, are entirely west of I-35. And, the department has established a South Central grouping of 7 counties, called Chickasaw Country, some of which, like Carter County, have more land west of I-35 than east.

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Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in the context of Charles Marion Russell

Charles Marion Russell (March 19, 1864 – October 24, 1926), also known as C. M. Russell, Charlie Russell, and "Kid" Russell, was an American artist of the American Old West. He created more than 2,000 paintings of cowboys, Native Americans, and landscapes set in the western United States and in Alberta, Canada, in addition to bronze sculptures. He is known as "the cowboy artist" and was also a storyteller and author. He became an advocate for Native Americans in the west, supporting the bid by landless Chippewa to have a reservation established for them in Montana. In 1916, Congress passed legislation to create the Rocky Boy Reservation.

The C. M. Russell Museum Complex in Great Falls, Montana houses more than 2,000 Russell artworks, personal objects, and artifacts. Other major collections are held at the Montana Historical Society in Helena, Montana, the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, Wyoming, the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth, Texas, and the Sid Richardson Museum in Fort Worth. His 1912 mural Lewis and Clark Meeting Indians at Ross' Hole hangs in the House chambers of the Montana Capitol in Helena, and his 1918 painting Piegans sold for $5.6 million at a 2005 auction. In 1955, he was inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

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Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in the context of Hall of Great Westerners

The Hall of Great Westerners was established by the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in 1958. Located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S., the Hall was created to celebrate the contributions of more than 200 men and women of the American West. Inductees include explorers, Native American leaders, writers, poets, politicians, statesmen and others.

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Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in the context of Tinker Air Force Base

Tinker Air Force Base (IATA: TIK, ICAO: KTIK, FAA LID: TIK) is a major United States Air Force base, with tenant U.S. Navy and other Department of Defense missions, located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, adjacent to Del City and Midwest City.

The base, originally known as the Midwest Air Depot, is named in honor of Oklahoma native Major General Clarence L. Tinker, the first Native American major general.

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Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in the context of Interstate 40

Interstate 40 (I-40) is a major east–west transcontinental Interstate Highway in the southeastern and southwestern portions of the United States. At a length of 2,556.61 miles (4,114.46 km), it is the third-longest Interstate Highway in the country, after I-90 and I-80. From west to east, it passes through California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina. Its western terminus is at I-15 in Barstow, California, while its eastern terminus is at a concurrency with U.S. Route 117 (US 117) and North Carolina Highway 132 (NC 132) in Wilmington, North Carolina. Major cities served by the Interstate include Flagstaff, Arizona; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Amarillo, Texas; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Fort Smith and Little Rock in Arkansas; Memphis, Nashville, and Knoxville in Tennessee; and Asheville, Winston-Salem, Greensboro, Durham, Raleigh, and Wilmington in North Carolina.

I-40 begins in the Mojave Desert in California, and then proceeds through the Colorado Plateau in Arizona and the southern tip of the Rocky Mountains in New Mexico. It then traverses the Great Plains through the Texas Panhandle and Oklahoma, and passes south of the Ozarks in Arkansas. The freeway crosses the Appalachian Mountains in Tennessee and North Carolina, before terminating in the Atlantic Coastal Plain near the Atlantic Ocean.

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