CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · Places & Architecture

Grant County, Oklahoma

county in Oklahoma, United States

Architectural plans, a scale model, maps and brass measuring instruments
Places and architectureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 18, 2026
Entity authorityQ486621 ↗
Source-derived summary

Grant County is a county located on the northern border of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2020 census, the population was 4,169. Its county seat is Medford. Originally designated as part of the Cherokee Outlet, it was named County L in Oklahoma Territory at the time of its opening to non-Indian settlement. A county election renamed it for U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant.

History

Grant County was part of the Cherokee Nation's Cherokee Outlet until it was opened to non-Indian settlers in response to public demand on September 16, 1893. Settlers named the county after President Ulysses S. Grant in a general election held November 6, 1894. Congress originally designated this area as County L in Oklahoma Territory, with the county seat at Pond Creek. Medford became the county seat through an election held on May 27, 1908.

The Chicago, Kansas and Nebraska Railway (later the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway) built a railroad from northern Kansas through Grant County in 1889 and 1890.

Editorial summary

“Grant County, Oklahoma” enters the record as county in Oklahoma, United States. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Grant, County and Oklahoma can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA strong orientation record where physical form, institutional use and historical geography need to be read together. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2020, 1893, 1894, 1908—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1893. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Grant, County and Oklahoma.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Grant County, Oklahoma” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Grant, County and Oklahoma provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q486621. VIAF identifies the subject as 146593888. The Library of Congress control number is n81117312. Authority coordinates are 36.800, -97.790. 5 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2020, 1893, 1894 and 1908.

Critical limits

Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.

Best used for
  • Historic place names
  • Jurisdictional context
  • Routes into maps and plans
Verify next

Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Grant County, Oklahoma”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Grant County, Oklahoma primary sources, Grant County, Oklahoma archive and Grant research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Grant County, Oklahoma”?
  2. Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
  3. Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Grant County, Oklahoma” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.