Oklahoma City was founded in the Land Run of 22nd April 1889, and within a few hours of its official foundation, it already had a population of over 10,000 people. Within a decade, the population had doubled. By the time it was admitted to the Union in 1907, it was streets ahead of Guthrie - the territory capital - both as a population centre and a successful industrial and commercial hub.
Oklahoma enjoyed a prosperous reputation, largely due to oil, and as a federal government centre. In April 1995, however, the Murrah Building was subjected to the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in American history and the worst act of terrorism on American soil until September 11, 2001. 168 people died, and over 600 were injured.
Gulf War veteran Timothy McVeigh detonated a truck bomb in front of the building as revenge for the government's handling of the Waco siege, which killed 76 people exactly two years earlier. McVeigh, a decorated soldier, was shocked by his orders to execute Iraqi prisoners who were surrendering. On his return from the Gulf, he appears to have become completely disillusioned by the government. He wrote a letter to a local newspaper containing the line, "Do we have to shed blood to reform the current system?"
By 1995, he was completely radicalised and turned to violent terrorism. His 168 victims at the Murrah Building included 19 children in a second-floor daycare centre, which he said would have given him cause to choose another target had he known (although it is widely thought that he did know and didn't care). McVeigh was convicted and executed by lethal injection at 7.14 a.m. on 11th June 2001.
Rescue and recovery operations continued at the site for over a week until the ruined building was demolished a month later. On the fifth anniversary of the bombing in April 2000, the Oklahoma City National Memorial was formally dedicated, commemorating all those affected by the atrocity, including rescuers and family members.
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Welcome to Chandler, Oklahoma, the county seat of Lincoln and home to many Route 66 attractions. However, it didn't have the smoothest of starts. Due to be 'opened' on 22nd September 1891 as part of a land run - literally a first-come, first-served rush to previously restricted territory, usually Native American settlements - Chandler was already 'settled' insofar as there was already a post office and several other official buildings. However, the site survey wasn't in place, so Chandler had its own exclusive run six days later.
The Chandler courthouse seems to have had a run of bad luck, too - torn down by a tornado in 1897 (17 town residents died), a stone courthouse eventually replaced it, but this was burned down in December 1967 and rebuilt again. Third time lucky for the courthouse, it's still standing today.
Despite oil discoveries in the surrounding area, Chandler has surprisingly never become a boom town. The population has also been relatively small, at less than 3000 inhabitants.
The Lincoln County Historical Society and Museum of Pioneer History contains thought-provoking information about the area, not to mention photographs and mementos of families dating back to before the land rush of 1891. Records of business, people and the general history of the whole county are on display, dating as far back as the Spanish-American War in 1898.
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Welcome to Tulsa, Oklahoma, the very birthplace of Route 66 and home of the one and only Route 66 Village. It takes its name from the name for 'old town' - Tallasi - in the language of the Lochapoka and Creek tribes who officially settled here in 1836 and were part of the so-called 'Five Civilised Tribes'. Descendants of the Mississippian culture societies were largely farming and agricultural communities. They appropriated many aspects of the colonising and displacing pioneers - although the absorption wasn't always peaceful or welcome.
Oklahoma still wasn't a state by the time of the American Civil War, but that didn't stop Tulsa from seeing its fair share of skirmishes and, later on, some of the more notorious outlaws of the Wild West, not least the Wild Bunch, and the Dalton Gang. In the 20th century, oil protected Tulsa from the worst of the Great Depression. The city's Greenwood neighbourhood was the home of what was termed 'Black Wall Street' - a highly successful and wealthy black community. Horrifying race riots - sparked by an alleged assault on a white 17-year-old girl - in 1921 led to the shameful massacre of hundreds of black residents; the neighbourhood was razed to the ground in the space of just a few hours. Those who survived and chose to stay rebuilt Greenwood, and it thrived. The massacre was rarely mentioned in history books or classrooms, and not in the press.
When Cyrus Avery, a local businessman, had the idea for a Chicago to Los Angeles road in 1925, little did he know that Route 66 would become world-famous. The Route 66 Village in Tulsa is a must-see transportation museum, complete with rail cars and other memorabilia from the town's early days.
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Foyil, Oklahoma is tiny, absolutely tiny. In the 2000 census, there were only 68 families, 97 households, and 234 people in the town. However, over the next decade, the population grew by almost 50%, reaching a booming 344 - the largest population Foyil has had since its first U.S. census in 1920.
The area used to be part of the Cherokee Nation, but like much of the rest of the American Midwest, the railway brought a small and thriving settlement of rail workers and, in 1890, a postmaster, Alfred Foyil. The town was built on his farmland, and with the addition of a general store (also owned by Foyil), a chemist, and a furniture shop by 1898, then a bank in 1905, Foyil might have been small (at around 150 residents), but it was perfectly formed. In 1911, it was home to - amongst others - two doctors, two blacksmiths, a lawyer, nine teachers, and even its own newspaper.
Route 66 helped the small town survive, but like many other small communities, boom and recession affected the size of the population. However, in 1937, Foyil started to garner fame as the home of a rather strange and wonderful piece of folk art - the world's largest totem pole. Nathan Edward Galloway's concrete construction wasn't finished until 1948. Although it was hailed as a wonderful monument to the former Native American history of the area, Galloway later stated it was just to give him "something to do" in retirement.
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