Norman, Oklahoma

==History==
[[File:MainStNormanEarly1900s.jpg|thumb|Main Street in Norman, circa 1900]]

{{see also|Timeline of Norman, Oklahoma}}
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:Abner norman.JPG|thumb|left|upright|Abner Norman statue outside City Hall]] -->
The Oklahoma region became part of the United States with the [[Louisiana Purchase]] in 1803. Before the [[American Civil War]], the U.S. government began relocating the [[Five Civilized Tribes]]—the five Native American tribes that the United States officially recognized via treaty—to Oklahoma. Treaties of 1832 and 1833 assigned the area known today as Norman to the [[Creek Nation]].<ref name="OU_Press">{{cite book |last=Levy |first=David W. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2Wlj-XkxJfUC |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |title=The University of Oklahoma: A History (Volume I) |year=2005 |isbn=9780806137032 |access-date=September 23, 2009}}</ref>

After the Civil War, the [[Creek indians|Creeks]] were accused of aiding the [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]]; as a result they ceded the region back to the United States in 1866.<ref name="OU_Press" /> In the early 1870s, the federal government undertook a survey of these unassigned lands. Abner Ernest Norman, a 23-year-old surveyor from [[Kentucky]], was hired to oversee part of this project.<ref name="OU_Press" /> Norman's work crew set up camp near what is today the corner of Classen Boulevard and Lindsey Street; it was there that the men, perhaps jokingly, carved a sign on an elm tree that read "Norman's Camp," in honor of their young boss.<ref name="OU_Press" /><ref name="About_Norman">{{cite web |url=http://www.ci.norman.ok.us/content/about-city |publisher=City of Norman |title=About the City |access-date=January 7, 2012 |archive-date=January 3, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120103012423/http://www.ci.norman.ok.us/content/about-city |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 1887, the [[Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway]] began service to the area,<ref name="OU_Press" /> which was later opened to settlement as part of the [[Land Run of 1889]];<ref name="OU_Press" /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.okgenweb.org/~land/ |publisher=Oklahoma Genealogy Web |title=Oklahoma's Land Runs |access-date=January 13, 2012}}</ref> early settlers decided to keep the name "Norman."<ref name="OU_Press" /><ref name="About_Norman" />

On {{nowrap|April 22}}, 1889, that first Land Run in what would become the state of Oklahoma saw the founding of Norman, with at least 150 residents spending the night in makeshift campsites,<ref name="OU_Press" /> and by the next morning a downtown was already being constructed.<ref name="OU_Press" /> Almost immediately two prominent Norman businessmen, former Purcell railroad freight agent Delbert Larsh and railroad station chief cashier Thomas Waggoner, began lobbying for the territorial government to locate its first university in Norman.<ref name="OU_Press" /> The two were interested in growing the city and had reasoned that, rather than try to influence territorial lawmakers to locate the heavily contested territory capital in Norman, it made sense to attempt to secure the state's first university instead (a move that would be far less controversial).<ref name="OU_Press" /> On {{nowrap|December 19}}, 1890, Larsh and Waggoner were successful with the passage of Territorial Council Bill 114, establishing the [[University of Oklahoma]] in Norman about 18 years before Oklahoma statehood.<ref name="OU_Press" />

The City of Norman was formally incorporated on {{nowrap|May 13}}, 1891.<ref name="Norman_Incorporated">{{cite web |url=http://www.ci.norman.ok.us/content/city-government |publisher=City of Norman |title=Norman: Our History |access-date=October 2, 2010 |archive-date=October 5, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101005064717/http://www.ci.norman.ok.us/content/city-government |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The new Norman was a [[sundown town]]. African Americans were not allowed to live within the city limits or stay overnight until the early 1960s,<ref>{{cite news |title=Colored Man Loses His Suit |work=[[Chicago Inter Ocean|The Sunday Inter Ocean]] |location=Chicago |date=September 17, 1899 |page=19 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/29070441/ |via=Newspapers.com |quote=Negroes are not allowed to live or work in the town of Norman, containing 2,000 population. Last winter a negro went there to put a tin roof on a building. He was attacked by a mob and cruelly beaten. He brought suit for $20,000 against the town, claiming that the police officers failed to protect him.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=From Oklahoma: Interesting Letter From Mr. S. M. Worthington Who is Visiting at Norman |first=S.M. |last=Worthington |work=The Evening Bulletin |location=Maysville, KY |date=December 17, 1902 |page=1 |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn87060190/1902-12-17/ed-1/seq-1/ |via=Chronicling America |quote=The negro is thought less of here than the Indian. A negro is not allowed to live or stay in this town. They are hounded and driven out, mostly by the ultra abolitionists and hoodlums of the town.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Negro Women Should be Members of DAR, Pickens Tells Students |work=[[Pittsburgh Courier]] |location=Pittsburgh |date=March 16, 1940 |page=3 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/29073712/ |via=Newspapers.com |quote=William Pickens set a precedent last week when he led the forum meeting at the University of Oklahoma at Norman, a town near here where Negroes are not allowed to live, and several years ago 'dared not be seen after dark.'}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Rights Commission Changes Norman |first=Nancy |last=Mathis |work=[[The Oklahoman|The Sunday Oklahoman]] |location=Oklahoma City, Oklahoma |date=October 14, 1979 |page=24A |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/29385152/ |via=Newspapers.com |quote='Norman was a very traditional Southern town,' [Norman Human Rights Commission chair Richard] Kenderdine said, explaining reasons for the opposition. Until the early 1960s, Norman was known as a 'sundown town' where blacks dared not be seen in public after dark, he said. And even in the late 1960s, blacks had trouble buying homes in Norman, he said.}}</ref> nor could they study at the University of Oklahoma. In 2020, the Norman City Council issued an apology.<ref>{{cite news |title=Norman City Council Passes 'Sundown Town' Apology Proclamation |date=January 28, 2020 |first=Storme |last=Jones |newspaper=News 9 ([[KWTV-DT]]) |url=https://www.news9.com/story/5e345f2f3196993fcfd05f37/norman-city-council-passes-sundown-town-apology-proclamation}}</ref>

Norman has grown throughout the decades. By 1902 the downtown district contained two banks, two hotels, a flour mill, and other businesses; by 1913 over 3,700 people lived in Norman when the [[Oklahoma Railway Company]] decided to extend its [[interurban]] [[streetcar]] running from Oklahoma City to [[Moore, Oklahoma|Moore]] into Norman, spurring additional population growth.<ref name="odell">{{cite web |last=O'Dell |first=Larry |title=Norman |url=http://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=NO006 |publisher=Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History |access-date=July 27, 2013}}</ref> The rail lines eventually transitioned to freight during the 1940s as the [[United States Numbered Highway]] system developed. The population reached 11,429 in 1940.<ref name="Decennials">{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census.html |publisher=U.S. Census Bureau |title=Census of Population and Housing |access-date=January 7, 2012}}</ref>

With the completion of [[Interstate 35 in Oklahoma|Interstate 35]] in June 1959,<ref name="oklahoman1">{{cite news |last=Cockerell |first=Penny |date=June 29, 2006 |title=50 Years: As the intersection of Interstates 35, 40 and 44, Oklahoma is at America's crossroads |pages=[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/119848509/50-years-as-the-intersection-of/ 1A]–[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/119848531/50-years-interstates-cont/ 2A] |work=The Daily Oklahoman |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/119848509/50-years-as-the-intersection-of/ |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=February 27, 2023}}</ref> Norman found its role as a [[bedroom community]] to Oklahoma City increasing rapidly; in 1960 Norman's population was 33,412 but by the end of the decade had grown to 52,117.<ref name="odell" /><ref name="Decennials" /> Throughout the 1960s Norman's land mass increased by {{cvt|174|sqmi|km2|sigfig=2}} by annexing surrounding areas.<ref name="odell" /> The city's growth trends have continued early in the 21st century, with the population reaching 95,694 in 2000,<ref name="odell" /><ref name="Decennials" /> 110,925 in 2010,<ref name="Decennials" /><ref name="2010_Population" /> and 128,026 in 2020.<ref name="Decennials" />

===Military in Norman===
In 1941, the [[University of Oklahoma]] and Norman city officials established Max Westheimer Field, a university airstrip, and then leased it to the [[U.S. Navy]] as a Naval Flight Training Center in 1942.<ref name="odell" /> It became the [[Naval Air Station Norman]], and it was used for training combat pilots during [[World War II]]. A second training center, known as Naval Air Technical Training Center, and a naval hospital were later established to the south.<ref name="odell"/> In the years following World War II the airstrip was transferred back to the university's control.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.rv-9.com/maxwf.html |publisher=rv-9.com |title=Max Westheimer Field |access-date=August 1, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101227075729/http://www.rv-9.com/maxwf.html |archive-date=December 27, 2010 |df=mdy-all}}</ref> Today the airstrip is called the [[University of Oklahoma Westheimer Airport]]. Following the war the remaining military presence and post-war veterans who came to Norman to get an education again grew the city's population, which was 27,006 by 1950.<ref name="odell"/><ref name="Decennials" /> The Navy again utilized the bases in a lesser capacity from 1952 to 1959 in support of the [[Korean War]] effort.<ref name="odell"/>