TOWNS
Grady County administrative offices are located at 326 West Choctaw Avenue, Chickasha, OK 73018; phone: 405-224-7388.
Beginnings [1]
Located in Indian Territory, the land on which Grady County and the community of Chickasha is situated was first part of the vast original Choctaw Nation, granted to the tribe in 1820 in the Treaty of Doaks Stand and covering much of what is now southern Oklahoma seventeen years later, the Chickasaws formed an alliance with the Choctaws and were largely removed to the Choctaw lands in Indian Territory by 1840. Quickly chafing at their incorporation into the Choctaw Nation, the Chickasaws began rallying for their own tribal domain. In 1855, the matter was resolved by the Choctaw-Chickasaw Treaty which divided the old Choctaw Nation into three areas.
By 1900, the county contained several permanent communities, the largest of which was Chickasha. At the time, Chickashas population numbered 3,209. The legal questions surrounding land ownership in the county were relieved by the 1897 Atoka Agreement which provided for allotment of the Choctaw and Chickasaws lands. Under this agreement, land holders were given possessory rights to lots which allowed them to buy improved lots at half the appraised value and unimproved lots at 62.5 percent of the appraised value. In 1901, the Secretary of the Interior approved the townsite plat and, on 18 February 1902, Chickasha was declared a city of the first class by a federal judge.
Previous to the Atoka Agreement, Chickasha was named an official federal court town for the Southern District of the Indian Territorial Court in 1895. With the advent of statehood in 1907, Chickasha was also named the county seat of the newly created Grady County. Both of these designations obviously enhanced the political and social position of the community which greatly aided economic development through the twentieth century.