20 Interesting Facts About Oklahoma City

Facts About Oklahoma City

Facts About Oklahoma City

  1. Oklahoma City, officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma.
  2. Oklahoma City is one of the largest cities in the nation in compliance with the Clean Air Act
  3. The estimated population of OKC is 681,054, as of the 2020 census.
  4. Oklahoma City has one of the world’s largest livestock markets.
  5. The world’s first shopping cart was invented and used by a local grocery store in Oklahoma City, at Stanford Food Market in 1937.
  6. Oklahoma City is on the I-35 Corridor, one of the primary travel corridors south into neighbouring Texas and Mexico and north towards Wichita and Kansas City.
  7. Oklahoma City was settled on April 22, 1889, when the area known as the “Unassigned Lands” was opened for settlement in an event known as “The Land Run”.
  8. The city has a total area of 620.34 square miles, of which 601.11 square miles is land and 19.23 square miles is water.
  9. Only two state capitals include the state’s name as part of the city’s, Oklahoma City and Indianapolis.
  10. Oklahoma City is the Horse Show Capital of the World.
  11. Oklahoma City owes its name to the Native American Choctaw people, and comes from the native words “Okla” meaning people and “humma” meaning red, literally translating to “red people”.
  12. Oklahoma City has an average elevation of 366 meters above sea level.
  13. Oklahoma City became the capital of Oklahoma on June 10, 1910, supplanting Guthrie, the territorial capital, as the population centre and commercial hub of the new state.
  14. The world’s first installed parking meter was in Oklahoma City, on July 16, 1935. Carl C. Magee, of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, is generally credited with originating the parking meter. He filed for a patent for a “coin-controlled parking meter” on May 13, 1935.
  15. The Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden is a zoo and botanical garden located in Oklahoma City’s Adventure District in northeast Oklahoma City. The zoo covers 48 hectares and is home to more than 1,900 animals.
  16. The Oklahoma City Capitol Building was originally designed to include a dome, but one wasn’t actually added until 2002.
  17. Oklahoma city is twinned with the following sister cities Haikou, China; Kigali, Rwanda; Piura, Peru; Puebla, Mexico; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Tainan, Taiwan; Taipei, Taiwan & Ulyanovsk, Russia (suspended August 2022).
  18. OKC is home to the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Training Site for Canoe/Kayak located in the Boathouse District.
  19. Tourism employs 31,500 in the hospitality and tourism industry in Oklahoma.
  20. There are 14 unique districts that make up Oklahoma City.

 

Learn fun and interesting facts about Oklahoma’s second city

 

Facts About Oklahoma City
Interesting Facts About Oklahoma City