Kingfisher County, Oklahoma
| Kingfisher County, Oklahoma | |
|---|---|
 Location in the U.S. state of Oklahoma |
|
 Oklahoma's location in the U.S. |
|
| Founded | May 2, 1890 |
| Seat | Kingfisher |
| Largest city | Piedmont |
| Area | |
| • Total | 906 sq mi (2,347 km2) |
| • Land | 898 sq mi (2,326 km2) |
| • Water | 7.9 sq mi (20 km2), 0.9% |
| Population (est.) | |
| • (2014) | 15,532 |
| • Density | 17/sq mi (7/km²) |
| Congressional district | 3rd |
| Time zone | Central: UTC-6/-5 |
Kingfisher County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2010 census, the population was 15,034. Its county seat is Kingfisher. The county was formed in 1890 and named Kingfisher by a vote of residents.
The land was given to the Creek Nation by the federal government, but was taken back after the American Civil War.
Limited archaeological surveys may have discovered evidence of pre-contact peoples, including Paleo-Indian and Archaic (6000 BC - 1 AD) groups that used the area for hunting and foraging. The historic Osage, Cheyenne, and Comanche tribes traversed the prairie grasslands of this area.
Before the county's creation, The Chisholm Trail's many routes crossed the area. A stage road which paralleled the trail had important stops at Dover Station, King Fisher Station and Baker Station.
The area was given to the Creek Nation by the federal government after their forced removal from Georgia. At the end of the American Civil War, the Creeks were forced to cede the land back to the federal government for siding with the Confederacy. It became part of the Unassigned Lands, and the area was opened to non-Indian settlement in the land run on April 22, 1889. Several towns, including Kingfisher, Oklahoma developed soon after the land run.
Originally this area was called County 5, when the Organic Act of May 2, 1890 created Oklahoma Territory. At an August 5, 1890 election, the voters of County 5 overwhelmingly voted for the name "Kingfisher" over "Hennessey" and "Harrison". The origin of the name is unclear. The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture mentions three different possibilities. The first is that the name memorialized a local rancher, David King Fisher. The second version is that King and Fisher were two different settlers, whose names were combined for the county and town. The third explanation was that the name was for a rancher named John Fisher and for whom Uncle Johns Creek was named.
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