Clinton (Oklahoma)
Description
Clinton is a city in Custer and Washita counties in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The population was 9,033 at the 2010 census.HistoryThe community began in 1899 when two men, J.L. Avant and E.E. Blake, decided to locate a town in the Washita River Valley.Because of governmental stipulations that an Indian could sell no more than one half of a 160acre allotment, the men made plans to purchase 320acre from four different Indians - Hays, Shoe-Boy, Nowahy, and Night Killer - and paid them each $2,000 for 80acre to begin the small settlement of Washita Junction.Congressional approval for the sale was granted in 1902 and Washita Junction quickly developed. The first businesses were the office of the Custer County Chronicle newspaper and the First National Bank building. When a post office was started, the postal department would not accept the name of Washita Junction; so the town was named for the late Judge Clinton Irwin.Clinton was served by the Frisco Railroad and Rock Island. It was also the eastern terminus of the Clinton, Oklahoma, and Western Railroad Company, which lay track westward to Hemphill County, Texas. Once in Hemphill County, a second similarly-named railroad, the Clinton-Oklahoma-Western Railroad Company of Texas, joined with Pampa in Gray County, Texas. Both of these companies were soon leased and purchased by the Panhandle and Santa Fe Railway, which held them until disestablishment in 1965.
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