Chickasha Has Rapid Growth   Chickasha, Grady County, Oklahoma

Submitted by:  Sandi Carter   SandKatC@aol.com 
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CHICKASHA HAS RAPID GROWTH


Rev. Robert Alexander, former pastor of the Church of Christ in Chickasha, 
wrote a thesis on Chickasha’s historical background, in preparation for his
master’s degree from the University of Oklahoma in 1932.

The early history of Chickasha is inseparably connected with the laying of
the Rock Island Railroad from Kansas to Texas.  Mr. Alexander found from
his study.  A splendid description of the town and its first days appeared
in newspapers.

An abandoned field, a stretch of prairie, with grazing cattle dotted upon 
it, countless mule teams, sweating, swearing ‘skinners,’ steel and tie
crews, a small shanty on the surveyed right-of-way, and an old ranch house
a distance to the northwest near an old peach orchard - this is the picture
of Chickasha, that the early settlers viewed as they pulled up their stakes
and moved from Pensee across the Washita River in April, 1892, to establish
a new townsite.

The rank and file of those who came to Chickasha in those days were 
followers of the railroad camp.  They came to Chickasha only because the 
rails of steel were laid across the Washita Rover.  Money flowed freely 
around the camp and soon doctors, storekeepers, saloon tenders, 
restaurantmen, gamblers and others found their way into the newly
established community.

The little towns, Fred, which was located about six miles southeast, and 
Pensee, which was located north across the Washita, were bodily moved to
this new townsite.

The original site of Chickasha was owned by James L. Speed and his Indian 
wife, Annie, who was of the Chickasaw tribe.  After the selection of 
Chickasha as a division point by the Rock Island Railway, a townsite
company was formed consisting of R. S. Burney, C. L. Campbell, C. B.
Campbell, Joe Cowdell and James H. Tuttle.  This company bought the
land from James L. and Annie Speed at the same time making them a part of
the company.

The town was incorporated in 1893 and Bob Schoform was elected the first 
mayor.  The town grew so rapidly that there were 141 businesses within six 
years.  There was a rapid growth during the next two decades but the
greatest period of growth was from 1900 to 1910, when the percent of
growth was 221.6. 

The 1910 population numbered 10,320.  From 1910 to 1920 there was a loss
of 1.4 per cent or 141 persons.  From 1920 to 1930 there was an increase
in population of 38.5 percent with a population at that time of 14,099.  
Population increased during the next ten years at a snail’s pace and the 
count was 14,111 in 1940.  In 1950 we counted 15,842 and today there are an
estimated 18,000 persons now living in Chickasha.

Submitted by Sandi Carter