As the Oklahoma state capital and the county seat of Oklahoma County, Oklahoma City is centrally located within the state and is a major crossroads served by Interstate Highways 35, 40, 44, 235, and 240. The future Oklahoma City lay within an area that was formerly part of the Creek and Seminole nations in Indian Territory. In the 1870s and 1880s Montford T. Johnson, a contemporary of Jesse Chisholm, operated a ranch at Council Grove, in present western Oklahoma City. Oklahoma City sprang into existence on April 22, 1889, when approximately fifty thousand participants of the Land Run of 1889 claimed town lots and quarter sections in the area known as the Unassigned Lands. On that date an estimated four to six thousand settlers came to Oklahoma Station (later Oklahoma City) to establish homes and businesses.
Prior to the land opening the Southern Kansas Railway (later the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway) built a line from the Kansas-Oklahoma border to Purcell, Indian Territory. At the North Canadian River a watering stop along that line, known as Oklahoma Station, was established in February 1887. A post office at Oklahoma Station opened on December 30, 1887. The post office was renamed Oklahoma on December 18, 1888, and finally, Oklahoma City on July 1, 1923. On April 19, 1889, three days prior to the land opening, Sidney Clarke, William L. Couch, and others formed the Seminole Town and Improvement Company in Topeka, Kansas. Two other townsite companies competed with the Seminole group in platting Oklahoma City. Consequently, accusations were made that some individuals were Sooners and lot jumpers and general confusion ensued.
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