Lawton, OK
Posted by: hamquilter
N 34° 36.355 W 098° 24.094
14S E 554868 N 3829504
Located in southwestern Oklahoma, Lawton is the 5th largest city in the State.
Waymark Code: WM12PNQ
Location: Oklahoma, United States
Date Posted: 06/27/2020
Views: 1
Lawton is located 87 miles southwest of Oklahoma City and is the County Seat for Comanche County. It has a current population of approximately 93,000. The town is established on former lands of the Kiowa, Comanche and Apache tribes. It is named for Major General Henry Ware Lawton, a Civil War Medal of Honor recipient. The town was established in August 1901 and soon was served by the Rock Island and Frisco railroads. The city has grown over the years due much to its location near Ft. Sill. Today, it continues to be demographically connected to the military base, but has grown in its own regard to a well-formed, commercial town. It is served by Interstate 44, and three major Oklahoma highways.
City Hall is located in an impressive three-story brick building constructed in 1909, with large additions added in 1922 and 1939. The building served as Lawton High School until 1954, then as the junior high before serving as Lawton's City Hall. The 1939 addition on the west and a cafeteria and gymnasium on the east are gone now, with those areas serving as parking lots. A large curved three-story glass atrium has been added on the west which serves as City Hall's main entrance.
This is a brick building in the Classical Revival style and was placed on the National Register in 1997. The original building is T-shaped with a large annex across the north end. The upper two stories, formerly classrooms serve as offices. A partially exposed basement level in a darker brick has a concrete belt course separating it from the upper floors. The impressive "high school" entrance on the south has a large two-story porch with six Ionic columns. This portion of the building has a copper-clad dome.
Lawton has a Council-Manager government with a Mayor and eight Council members. City Hall contains all of the Lawton city offices and chambers. The Council meets twice a month on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays at 6:00PM. Each Council member is elected and serves a three-year term.