Oklahoma City is the capital of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, the city is the 30th largest city in the U.S. The city's estimated population as of 2006 was 537,734, with a 2006 estimated population of 1,172,339 in the metropolitan area. In 2006, the Oklahoma City -Shawnee Combined Statistical Area had a population of 1,240,977 residents. Founded during the Land Run of 1889, Oklahoma City was the site of the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in 1995, the largest act of terrorism on American soil prior to the September 11, 2001 attacks and the most destructive act of domestic terrorism in American history.
Oklahoma City was first settled on April 22, 1889, when the area known as the "unassigned lands" (that is, land in Indian territory that had not been assigned to any tribes) was opened for settlement in an event known as "The Land Run." Some 10,000 homesteaders settled the area now known as Oklahoma City, and within 10 years the population had doubled. By the time Oklahoma was admitted to the Union in 1907, Oklahoma City had supplanted Guthrie, the territorial capital, as the population center and commercial hub of the new state. Thanks to political and commercial savvy of such early city leaders as John Shartel, Anton Classen and Henry Overholser, Oklahoma City had become an attractive Victorian city with an efficient trolley system, a major regional commercial center, a railway hub and had attracted several large meat packing plants to Stockyards City (Oklahoma) along with other industry. The city, now with a population of 64,000, put in a petition to become the new state capital. A popular vote was held, with Governor Charles N. Haskell as one of the strongest advocates for Oklahoma City's candidacy, which Oklahoma City won. The Oklahoma State Capitol was established at NE 23rd street and Lincoln Boulevard. The capitol was long known for its lack of a dome, which could not be added by the time the building was completed in 1919 due to lack of funds. A dome was finally added to the building in 2002.
The new city continued to grow at a steady rate until December 4, 1928, when oil was discovered in the city. Oil wells popped up everywhere, even on the south lawn on the capitol building, and the sudden influx of oil money within the city and throughout the state greatly accelerated the city's growth. While those who had made money during this early oil boom largely escaped the Depression, the majority of Americans and Oklahomans were not so lucky. By 1935, rural migrants and unemployed workers had built a massive shanty town (or "Hooverville" after president Herbert Hoover) on the south bank of the North Canadian River. The river often flooded, bringing disease and misery to the people living there. As part of the "New Deal," the Works Progress Administration and Civilian Conservation Corps greatly reduced the level of the river to prevent flooding (a move which would later become a problem for city leaders stuck with a nearly empty river) and built one of the first experiments with public housing in the country.
The Second World War and the resultant war industries brought recovery to the nation and Oklahoma City, and the post war period saw Oklahoma City become a major hub in the national Interstate Highway System. Additionally, Tinker Air Force Base in Midwest City became the largest air depot in the country in the post war period, a fact which made Oklahoma City the likely target for a possible Soviet nuclear strike. As the civil rights era dawned, downtown Oklahoma City became the site of a revolution in civil rights tactics. History teacher Clara Luper and some of her students from nearby Douglass High School led the first "sit in" in American history to desegregate the lunch counter at a downtown department store in 1958. When they succeeded, the tactic was adopted throughout the country, notably by the young activists of SNCC.
From February 3 to July 29, 1964, Oklahoma City was subjected to eight sonic booms per day in a controversial experiment known as the Oklahoma City sonic boom tests. The intent was to quantify the sociological and economic costs of a supersonic transport aircraft. The experiment resulted in 15,400 damage claims. The persistence of the experiment and the 94% rejection rate of damage claims led to turmoil at all levels of government and embroiled Senator Mike Monroney's office in a battle with the Federal Aviation Administration. The embarrassment over the Oklahoma City experiments partially contributed to the demise of the Boeing 2707 SST project seven years later.
As the 1960s continued, however, Oklahoma City began to decline. By 1970, "white flight" and suburbanization had drained the life from the central business district and the surrounding areas. The oil beneath the city had begun to dry up, and property values declined. The city leaders then engaged in a disastrous program of "urban renewal" which succeeded primarily in demolishing much of the aging theater district and the impressive Biltmore Hotel. The city had planned to build a massive shopping mall called "The Galleria" downtown, but money for renewal ran out before they could construct more than the parking garage for it. This left downtown OKC in even worse shape than it had been in, with vacant lots where Victorian brownstones once stood. The 1970s and 1980s were periods of stagnation for Oklahoma City proper (and was the case for almost all major cities in the United States) and periods of affluence and explosive development for the suburbs. With the exception of The Myriad Gardens very little was done to improve the inner city or the central business district during this time, even as the oil boom of the late 1970s brought a flood of money into the area.
By 1992, the city was in such dire need of improvement that it was losing jobs, population, and even air carriers to more attractive cities. With this in mind, Mayor Ron Norrick pushed through a massive plan for capitol improvements throughout Downtown called the Metropolitan Area Projects, or MAPS. MAPS called for a five-year, one-cent sales tax to fund a new ballpark, a canal through Bricktown, a new central library, a large indoor arena, renovations to the fairgrounds and the civic center, and a series of low water dams on the North Canadian River to make it attractive and accessible to small boats. Though still stinging from the failure of "urban renewal," the people of Oklahoma City passed the measure, eventually raising over 1 billion dollars for improvements to the city and bringing life back to the central city. As Oklahoma City moves through the twenty-first century, new changes continue to bring population, jobs, entertainment, and improvement. In 2004 a new Dell call center brought over 250 jobs, and plans to employ over 19,000 more jobs in the future. 2005 brought Oklahoma their first major league Basketball franchise, the OKC/New Orleans Hornets. Many other corporations are finding OKC their home and the population is once again increasing at a very high rate.
In the midst of this atmosphere of optimism and change, Timothy McVeigh drove a rented truck full of explosives to the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995. The explosion killed 168 people (including 19 children) and injured thousands, as well as damaging and destroying many surrounding buildings. Until the attacks of September 11, it was the largest terrorist attack on American soil, and it remains the single largest domestic terrorist attack in American history. The site is now home to the Oklahoma City National Memorial. Oklahoma City has recovered and rebuilt since then, and it is now difficult to see evidence of the attack in the surrounding areas.