County of Garfield County
Location of courthouse: Bordered by Broadway St., N. Grand Ave., S. Independence Ave., and Randolph St., Enid
Location of county: center in states, 2nd county S of border with Kansas; Crossroads of US-412, OK-15 & US-64, US-81, OK-74, OK-132
Founded: 1893
Named After: President James A. Garfield
Elevation: 1406 ft (429 m)
Population: 61,926 (2021)
The Person:
James Abram Garfield (November 19, 1831 – September 19, 1881) was the 20th president of the United States, serving from March 4, 1881 until his death six months later—two months after he was shot by assassin Charles J. Guiteau. A lawyer and Civil War general, Garfield served nine terms in the United States House of Representatives and is, to date, the only sitting member of the House to be elected president. Before his candidacy for the White House, he had been elected to the U.S. Senate by the Ohio General Assembly—a position he declined when he became president-elect.
"Garfield was born into poverty in a log cabin and grew up in northeastern Ohio. After graduating from Williams College, he studied law and became an attorney. He was active in the Stone-Campbell Movement denomination. Garfield was elected as a Republican member of the Ohio State Senate in 1859, serving until 1861. He opposed Confederate secession, was a major general in the Union Army during the American Civil War, and fought in the battles of Middle Creek, Shiloh, and Chickamauga. Garfield was elected to Congress in 1862 to represent Ohio's 19th district. Throughout his congressional service, he firmly supported the gold standard and gained a reputation as a skilled orator. He initially agreed with Radical Republican views on Reconstruction but later favored a Moderate Republican-aligned approach to civil rights enforcement for freedmen. Garfield's aptitude for mathematics extended to a notable proof of the Pythagorean theorem, which he published in 1876.
"At the 1880 Republican National Convention, delegates chose Garfield, who had not sought the White House, as a compromise presidential nominee on the 36th ballot. In the 1880 presidential election, he conducted a low-key front porch campaign and narrowly defeated the Democratic nominee, Winfield Scott Hancock. Garfield's accomplishments as president included his resurgence of presidential authority against senatorial courtesy in executive appointments, a purge of corruption in the Post Office, and his appointment of a Supreme Court justice. He advocated for agricultural technology, an educated electorate, and civil rights for African Americans. He also proposed substantial civil service reforms, which were passed by Congress in 1883 as the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act and signed into law by his successor, Chester A. Arthur.
"Garfield was a member of the intraparty "Half-Breed" faction who used the powers of the presidency to defy the powerful "Stalwart" New York senator Roscoe Conkling. He did this by appointing Blaine faction leader William H. Robertson to the lucrative post of Collector of the Port of New York. A fracas ensued that resulted in Robertson's confirmation and the resignations of Conkling and Thomas C. Platt from the Senate.
"On July 2, 1881, Charles J. Guiteau, a disappointed and delusional office seeker, shot Garfield at the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station in Washington. The wound was not immediately fatal but managed to kill Garfield on September 19, 1881, due to infections caused by his doctors." ~ Wikipedia
The Place:
"Named for President James A. Garfield, the county is noted for its wheat production. At the turn of the twenty-first century incorporated towns included Breckinridge, Carrier, Covington, Douglas, Drummond, Fairmont, Garber, Hillsdale, Hunter, Kremlin, Lahoma, Waukomis, North Enid, and Enid, the county seat.
"According to a 1981 archaeological survey, Garfield County's prehistory is represented by forty-seven known sites. Although this region has been little studied by archaeologists, some sites indicate occupation during the Archaic period (6000 B.C. to A.D. 1), Woodland period (A.D. 1 to 1000), and the Plains Village period (A.D. 1000 to 1500). In the 1700s and 1800s the Wichita, Osage, Kiowa, and other Plains Indians vied for hunting opportunities in the region.
"Originally part of the Cherokee Outlet, Garfield County was opened to non-Indian settlers on September 16, 1893. Many early settlers were of German and Czech descent. Prior to the opening, large cattle companies had leased large sections of the outlet from the Cherokee and cattle drives from Texas to Kansas came through the area via the Chisholm Trail. Following the opening a number of farming communities such as Fairmont, Lahoma, and Waukomis developed. Construction of railroad lines gave impetus to other towns, including Breckinridge, Carrier, and Covington.
"Congress designated Garfield County as O County and Enid as the county seat and government land office site prior to the opening. Initially, county business was conducted in rented space in a two-story brick structure. In 1907 the A. O. Campbell Construction Company of Oklahoma City completed an ornate, four-story courthouse, which was destroyed by fire on January 29, 1931. The present courthouse, an Art Deco design, was constructed in 1934. As part of the Works Progress Administration Federal Art Project, artist Ruth Augur painted historical murals on the courthouse walls. The Garfield County courthouse is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, NR 84003018.
"After the 1893 land opening settlers soon established schools and other educational facilities. In September 1894 W. N. Stephenson, an itinerant teacher, established the Enid Business College. Students learned penmanship, typewriting, shorthand, telegraphy, and bookkeeping as well as spelling and arithmetic. The institution continued to operate until the mid-1970s. In September 1907 county residents and others could obtain a higher education when the Oklahoma Christian University (later Phillips University) opened. Enid club women initiated the movement to obtain a grant from the Carnegie Corporation to establish the Enid Public Library, which was dedicated in 1910.
"Because Garfield County lacked major waterways, most early transportation routes followed trails. The well- known Chisholm Trail provided access across Indian Territory for cattle drives from Texas to Kansas. In 1873 a mail route was established between Wichita, Kansas, and Fort Sill, Indian Territory that passed through the Cherokee Outlet with relay stations near present Skeleton and at Buffalo Springs, near Bison.
"At 1907 statehood Garfield County had 28,300 inhabitants. Numbers rose to 33,050 and 37,500 in 1910 and 1920, respectively. In 1930 and 1940 the population hovered in the mid-45,000s. During the post-World War II years, numbers increased to 52,820 and 52,975 in 1950 and 1960, respectively. Garfield County's population peaked at 62,820 in 1980. In 2000 the county had 57,813 residents, of whom 88.5 percent were white, 3.9 percent were Hispanic, 3.2 were African American, 2.3 percent American Indian, and .9 percent Asian. In 2010 the county had 60,580 residents, of whom 77.8 percent were white, 10.4 percent were Hispanic, 3.3 percent were African American, 2.9 percent were Native American, 1.3 percent were Asian, 1.9 Pacific Islander, and 2.4 percent were other race." ~ Garfield County