Carter County is a county in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2020 census, the population was 48,003. Its county seat is Ardmore. The county was named for Captain Ben W. Carter, a Cherokee who lived among the Chickasaw.
Ardmore is the county seat of Carter County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 24,725 at the time of the 2020 census, a 1.8% increase over the 2010 census figure of 24,283. The Ardmore micropolitan statistical area had an estimated population of 48,491 in 2013. Ardmore is 90 miles (140 km) from both Oklahoma City and Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas, at the junction of Interstate 35 and U.S. Highway 70, and is generally considered the hub of the 13-county region of South Central Oklahoma, also known by state tourism pamphlets as "Chickasaw Country" and previously "Lake and Trail Country". It is also a part of the Texoma region. Ardmore is situated about 9 miles (14 km) south of the Arbuckle Mountains and is located at the eastern margin of the Healdton Basin, one of the most oil-rich regions of the United States.
Gene Autry is a town in Carter County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 154 at the time of the 2020 census, down just slightly from the 158 reported in the 2010 census. It is part of the Ardmore, Oklahoma Micropolitan Statistical Area.
Healdton is a city in Carter County, Oklahoma, United States. Its population was 2,788 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Ardmore micropolitan statistical area.
Lone Grove is a city in Carter County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 5,054 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Micropolitan Statistical Area of Ardmore.
Wilson is a town in Carter County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 1,724 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Ardmore, Oklahoma Micropolitan Statistical Area. It is home to one of the oldest Assemblies of God churches in Oklahoma, the Wilson Assembly of God Church.
Ringling is a town in Jefferson County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 1,037 at the 2010 census, a decline of 8.6 percent from the figure of 1,135 in 2000. It was named for John Ringling, the founder of the Ringling Brothers Circus.
Burneyville is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Love County, Oklahoma, United States. The post office was established May 5, 1879. It was named for David C. Burney, father of Benjamin Crooks Burney, who had been Governor of the Chickasaw Nation from 1878 through 1880.
The Western Association was the name of five different leagues formed in American minor league baseball during the 19th and 20th centuries.
Pooleville is a community located in Carter County, Oklahoma, United States. It is west of the Arbuckles. During the territorial days, the community was originally known as Elk.
South Central Oklahoma is an amorphous region in the state of Oklahoma, perhaps encompassing 10 counties. It is centered on the Arbuckle Mountains, an ancient, eroded range traversing some 70 miles (110 km) across the region, and surrounded by rivers and lakes, notably Lake Texoma, Lake Murray and Lake of the Arbuckles. For tourism purposes, the Oklahoma Department of Tourism has more narrowly defined South Central Oklahoma, which they refer to as Chickasaw Country, as being a seven-county region including Pontotoc, Johnston, Marshall, Garvin, Murray, Carter, and Love counties. A ten-county definition might also include Coal, Atoka, and Bryan counties, although the Department of Tourism includes those in Choctaw Country. The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma covers the eastern third of the region. Its headquarters is in Durant, and its capitol building, now a museum, is in Tuskahoma. The Chickasaw Nation lies within the region, with the tribal capitol building located at Tishomingo and its headquarters in Ada. The Chickasaw Nation, which runs "Chickasawcountry.com"., promotes the idea of Chickasaw Country as the 13 south-central Oklahoma counties that comprise the Chickasaw Nation, being the Tourism Department’s seven counties plus Coal, Bryan, Jefferson, Stephens, Grady, and McClain counties.
Robert A. Hefner Jr. was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 1973.
Robert Alexander Hefner, born in Hunt County, Texas, to William Lafayette Hefner and Sarah Jane Masters Hefner, was a lawyer-turned-politician. He served as mayor of Ardmore, Oklahoma, and of Oklahoma City, and as a justice of the Supreme Court of Oklahoma. Hefner was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 1949. Hefner also became notable because of his work in government, especially in Ardmore and later in Oklahoma City.
Wirt is an unincorporated community in Carter County, Oklahoma, United States, approximately three miles west of Healdton. First called Ragtown because of the tents the oil workers lived in when the petroleum boom started, the town was formally named after Wirt Franklin, who was in the oil business and drilled the first local well. The community post office began operations on December 12, 1914. At its peak, the town had a school, movie theater, bank, drug store, two gas stations, two churches, and two groceries. But the town burned several times, and the population declined when the oil boom ended.
Mazola McKerson was an American politician. In 1977 she was elected to the Ardmore City County Commission, making her not only the first African-American, but also the first woman to serve on the City Council. Only two years later, McKerson became the first African-American female mayor of Ardmore, Oklahoma, as well as the first woman in the United States to serve as mayor of a city of more than 30,000 people. McKerson was also the first chairperson of the Governor's Commission on the Status of Women. Aside from her public influence, McKerson owned and operated The Gourmet Restaurant in Ardmore from 1962 to 1997, the product of her home-based catering company that she started in 1946.
June Brooks (1924-2010) was an Oklahoma businesswoman, speaker and promoter of the oil and gas industry. She advocated for energy independence and spoke throughout the world on responsible energy development. She won numerous awards, including the Distinguished Service from both the Oklahoma Petroleum Council and the American Association of Professional Landmen, as well as being honored as an Outstanding Woman of Energy from the Association of Women in Energy and one of the inaugural inductees into the Oklahoma Women's Hall of Fame.
Cox City is an unincorporated community in Grady County, Oklahoma, United States. A post office operated in Cox City from 1927 to 1964. The town was named after an oil man, Edwin B. Cox, from Ardmore.
Ardmore Army Air Field, later Ardmore Air Force base was an installation of the United States Army and later Air Force. It was named after the nearby city of Ardmore, Oklahoma but was actually located closer to the town of Gene Autry, Oklahoma. It was a military installation from 1942 to 1946 and again from 1953 to 1958. It is now home to the Ardmore Municipal Airport.
Minor league baseball teams were based in Ardmore, Oklahoma, playing in various seasons between 1904 and 1961. Ardmore teams played in the 1904 Texas League, Texas-Oklahoma League (1911–1914), 1917 Western Association, Texas-Oklahoma League (1921–1922), 1923 Western Association, 1924 Oklahoma State League, Western Association (1924–1926), Sooner State League (1947–1957) and Texas League (1961). Ardmore captured league championships in 1923, 1925 and 1957.
The Oklahoma, New Mexico and Pacific Railway, known colloquially as the “Ringling Railroad,” ran from Ardmore, Oklahoma to Ringling, Oklahoma, with a branch to Healdton, Oklahoma. It was started in 1913, and was sold to an Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (AT&SF) affiliate in 1926.
