Oklahoma [City]

[Platemaker]

Having had the opportunity to live in several states and Europe, I've noticed that a number of outsider impressions of the State of Oklahoma is Oklahoma City and vise versa... many times thinking the word 'city' is redundant when used in an obvious context.

Looking at old maps, there are several that label Oklahoma City simply 'Oklahoma'.

Question: Is 'Oklahoma' and 'Oklahoma City' interchangeable in similar way that 'New York' and 'New York City' are?

[ssandedoc]

Nope. We just call it Oklahoma City or OKC.

[USG '60]

I think a huge portion of Oklahomans simply call it The City to other Oklahomans and we probably slip and call it that to out of staters and then correct ourselves when they give us a quizical look.

[DM1031]

to me, its OKC, or "the city"

[the_Mont]

I think a huge portion of Oklahomans simply call it The City to other Oklahomans and we probably slip and call it that to out of staters and then correct ourselves when they give us a quizical look.

This.

[OKCMallen]

Question: Is 'Oklahoma' and 'Oklahoma City' interchangeable in similar way that 'New York' and 'New York City' are?

Not in any of my experience.

[OKCMallen]

I think a huge portion of Oklahomans simply call it The City to other Oklahomans and we probably slip and call it that to out of staters and then correct ourselves when they give us a quizical look.

Yes. Or the Big Town.

[Luke]

Growing up in Sulphur, we always called Oklahoma City "The City." I wondered if those growing up in towns closer to Tulsa than to OKC referred to Tulsa as "The City." I found out in college that people around Tulsa still referred to OKC as "The City" and Tulsa was just Tulsa or T-Town.

[Grant]

I've always wondered the same thing...especially since I assume Oklahoma City and Oklahoma territory were founded around the same time. Kind of a chicken or the egg scenario on whether it's "Oklahoma City" or "the City of Oklahoma" aka just "Oklahoma"...according to the caption of this picture taken from Wikipedia snapped evidently somewhere around 1890 the correct name is and has always been "Oklahoma City".

[possumfritter]

A friend of mine, whom was raised on a farm out around Piedmont said her family used to refer to OKC as "goin shopin."

[Jesseda]

is there any structures still standing from the 1890 land run? oh and to stick to the subject i have called it okc, oklahoma city or oakcity

[MadMonk]

LOL, I'm going to listing my address as
Oklahoma City, Indian Territory 73132

[Martin]

my details might be a bit sketchy, but here's what i've always heard...

oklahoma city was called just 'oklahoma' for a relatively brief amount of time after being founded. limitations on land size for new townsites necesitated the need to create two adjacent, independent towns just after the landrun. to the north of reno, there was 'oklahoma' and to the south of reno there was 'south oklahoma.' shortly thereafter, the two townsites were able to join into one municipality and to avoid confusion with the state name, 'oklahoma city' was chosen as the name.

consequently, i believe that this is why reno is the north/south dividing line and not main street.

-M

[USG '60]

I thought our first name was Oklahoma Station because of the train watering station.

[MsDarkstar]

is there any structures still standing from the 1890 land run? oh and to stick to the subject i have called it okc, oklahoma city or oakcity

Yes, there are.

Harn Homestead

One building is original to the site, from the time of the Land Run. There are other buildings on site that were moved there for museum purposes, but are from the Land Run period. I used to work there, if you want to know more about it just send me a private message.

[circuitboard]

My family refers to OKC, as "the city" and they live in Tulsa. They also to this day, think that OKC is where gang violence is and you have to be careful???? Like Tulsa is a saint or something.

[Bunty]

is there any structures still standing from the 1890 land run? oh and to stick to the subject i have called it okc, oklahoma city or oakcity

Probably not any. Many of the original structures were built from wood. So they either burnt down or were cleared to make way for bigger and better structures as prosperity in early day Oklahoma demanded. By the way, the land run that settled Oklahoma City was the original or first one done in 1889.

[stratosphere]

when i lived in Norman, going to OKC was referred to as "goin to the city"

I have a friend in Austin Texas (UT student) who refers to us as "land thieves"

i just kindly remind him that

[dismayed]

Having had the opportunity to live in several states and Europe, I've noticed that a number of outsider impressions of the State of Oklahoma is Oklahoma City and vise versa... many times thinking the word 'city' is redundant when used in an obvious context.

Looking at old maps, there are several that label Oklahoma City simply 'Oklahoma'.

Question: Is 'Oklahoma' and 'Oklahoma City' interchangeable in similar way that 'New York' and 'New York City' are?

Really only outsiders call OKC "Oklahoma" or "Oak City." Pretty much everyone local literally calls out the acronym OKC or calls it "The City" like "I'm going up to The City today."

If you look at the original maps 100+ years ago, the state of Oklahoma was called Indian Territory, and the central area... say what is now roughly Oklahoma County, was called Oklahoma. This was usually called out as "Oklahoma, IT" on maps, so maybe what you mentioned in your first post is an old reference to that?

A long, long time ago what is now OKC was called Oklahoma Station and was just a stop along the Santa Fe Rail Line. This was likely OKC's first name.

What is south of I-40 today was its own city for a while and was called South Oklahoma. Eventually this merged into OKC.

Heritage Hills to the north and Capitol Hill to the south were some of OKC's very first suburbs. At one time they were connected by rail to the downtown area. What is Grand Blvd. was at one time the 'outer loop' of the city. It's funny to think how close in that street is and consider the new outer loop, probably the Kilpatrick Turnpike, in comparison.

Just some fun random facts!

[Platemaker]

Really only outsiders call OKC "Oklahoma" or "Oak City." Pretty much everyone local literally calls out the acronym OKC or calls it "The City" like "I'm going up to The City today."

That's pretty much my experience. Obvioulsy, a nickname like "the City" won't fly as OKC climbs tiers in the eyes of the outside... so what wins out?

"Oak City" is one I haven't come across too often.

[Doug Loudenback]

Good question about the city's name. I'll see what I can find. This much I can say: the US Postal Service recognized the "city" for the 1st time in 1923 ... before then, postmarks read "Oklahoma, Oklahoma."

This Oklahoman article below reports on a blurb in a Vinita newspaper:



ON EDIT: found this at, but it really doesn't answer the question since its focus is on what the postal department called us. Presumably, when the city incorporated, it had a name ... still looking ... but here's what was said here: http://digital.library.okstate.edu/e...s/O/OK025.html

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.

[OUman]

I don't refer to Oklahoma City as OKC since OKC is Will Rogers Airport's code, but that's just me, I'm probably too technical about such stuff being an aviation nut. So I just say "the city" or "Oklahoma City."

[fromdust]

never heard okc referred to simply as oklahoma. "the city", yes. as far away as durant in the se part and as far away as alva in the ne part of the state.

[dismayed]

"Oak City" is one I haven't come across too often.

I hear it a lot outside of Oklahoma.

[USG '60]

The only time I ever heard it called Oak City was by the hockey players when I hung out with them in the early 70's.