It’s been said that there were three events in the history of Woodward, Oklahoma that defined the city and its people: 1) Temple Houston, the so-called lawyer with a gun, whose profound impact on his adopted home of Woodward has never faded from memory; 2) the April 1947 Woodward tornado, a horrific storm that came into the city with a nearly two-mile wide base, killing more than 100 people and obliterating more than 100 city blocks of residential and commercial properties; and, 3) the oil-gas industry that brought with it  periods of prosperity and economic downturn based on the cycle of boom or bust.

Woodward is located at the junctions of U.S. Highways 412 and 183 and is the county seat of Woodward County. Boiling Springs State Park is six miles to the northwest. Woodward was founded in April 1887 when the Southern Kansas railway (then a subsidiary of the Santa Fe) built tracks to this point from Kiowa, Kansas.

The source of the town’s name remains a mystery. It may have been named for Brinton W. Woodward, who is usually identified as a Santa Fe railway director. Richard “Uncle Dick” Woodward, buffalo-hunter, teamster, and local saddle maker is also a candidate.

Located in the western quadrant of the Cherokee Outlet, the town began six years before the Outlet was officially opened to non-Indian settlers. It met the need as a provisioning point for Fort Supply, a military reservation located twelve miles to the northwest. Woodward has been a major trade center in Northwest Oklahoma ever since.

At the time of the opening of the Cherokee Outlet on September 16, 1893, a survey error caused the town, its land office and other public buildings, to be located in the section west of the existing improvements, a good fifteen blocks away from the depot, post office, and stockyards. As a result, two towns sprang up. East Woodward (then also called New Denver) began near the improvements, while Woodward was built near the land office.

In October 1894, East Woodward businesses followed the depot when it was moved west to be located between Fifth and Sixth Streets. The land office, jail, and other government buildings were eventually moved toward the depot. The two towns became one. The curve in the city’s long Main Street at Eighth (originally called Boundary) is the result of the municipal merger.

Woodward remained one of the most extensive cattle shipping points in Oklahoma Territory. Town leaders had made certain that market drives would not be fenced away from the stockyards. In keeping with the cattle-marketing tradition, on February 23, 1933, the Woodward Livestock Auction opened. It was the first commercial-grade cattle auction in Oklahoma.

Open range ended in 1901. Homesteaders flooded in, and by late 1902 cow-ponies tied to hitching posts no longer lined Main Street. They had been replaced by farmers’ wagons filled with crops for market. Corn, cotton, and broom-corn were initially planted by many farmers, however these eventually gave way to wheat as the primary cash crop by 1914. Woodward’s population had grown to over 2,000 people in 1907 to 2,696 in the 1920 census.

With beef cattle being replaced by the farmers’ milk cow and progress measured in the number of acres broken by the plow, the USDA established the Great Plains Field Station southwest of town in 1913. Years later, beef cattle once again dominated the land, and re-grassing Northwest Oklahoma became a new goal of the station. In 1978, the facility was renamed the Southern Plains Range Research Station.

By 1930, Woodward’s population had grown to 5,056 residents. During the Great Depression, local Works Progress Administration projects included the damming of an artesian well (a failed oil well venture) to form Crystal Beach Lake and its adjacent park. This facility would become a playground for Woodward’s trade area and home for the Elks Rodeo, which began in 1929. Organizers were some of the men who had ridden for the big cow outfits in the 1800s. Woodward’s population continued to grow during the depression years reaching 5,406 inhabitants in 1940.

Woodward’s story forever changed the night of April 9, 1947, when a violent tornado tore across the city shortly after 8:30pm. The storm moved from southwest to northeast, destroying more than 100 city blocks, primarily residential areas, killing more than 100 people, and severely injuring more than 1,000. The effects of the twister would change the area so much that history would now be measured as having happened before or after the tornado. Woodward continued to grow despite the tragedy, with the 1950 census showing a population of 5,915.

In late November 1956, Woodward began a new adventure — the roller coaster ride of oil and gas production. McCormick #1 became the country’s discovery gas well, and a boom of more than twenty years followed. Main Street and Oklahoma Avenue stretched west to the “Oil Patch.”

The mid-70’s saw the arrival of major industry in the region when the W. R. Grace & Co. established operations west of town in what had previously been the town-site of Gerlach. Its subsequent commercial enterprise, CF Industries, is now the largest employer in Woodward County.

Through the horrific 1947 Woodward tornado, the unpredictability of agriculture, and the vagaries of oil and gas--Woodward, Oklahoma, has endured its share of tragedy and triumph. Standing as tenacious as its citizens are the touchstones that make up the rich and colorful history of Northwest Oklahoma.