Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

About Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Oklahoma City is the capital of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, the city ranks 31st among United States cities in population. The city's estimated population as of 2007 was 547,274, with a 2007 estimated population of 1,192,989 in the metropolitan area. In 2007, the Oklahoma City-Shawnee Combined Statistical Area had a population of 1,262,027 residents. Besides Oklahoma County, the city extends into Canadian, Cleveland, and Pottawatomie counties. It was founded during the Land Run of 1889.

In 1995, the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City was bombed by a disaffected, decorated U.S. Army veteran. With the bombing resulting in 168 deaths, Timothy McVeigh caused the most destructive act of domestic terrorism in United States history, and the most destructive act of terrorism on American soil prior to the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Oklahoma City was settled on April 22, 1889, when the area known as the "unassigned lands" was opened for settlement in "The Oklahoma Land Run". Some 10,000 homesteaders settled what is now downtown Oklahoma City and created a tent city in a single day. Within 10 years the population had doubled in what became a permanent settlement and the future state capital of Oklahoma.