Lawton

History

The territory of present-day Oklahoma was long settled by ancient cultures of prehistoric American Indians, including the Clovis, 11500 BCE; Folsom, 10600 BCE; and Plainview, 10000 BCE cultures. The valleys of the Arkansas River and Red River were the center of Caddoan Mississippian culture, which began to develop about 800 CE. The people developed more dense settlement and a complex architecture of earthwork platform mounds. Archeological evidence has shown that these people were the direct ancestors of the historic Caddoan-language peoples who inhabited the larger region, including the Caddo and the Wichita peoples. In the 16th century, Spanish explorer Francisco Vásquez de Coronado visited in 1541, beginning European contact. Around the 1700s, two tribes from the north, the Comanche and Kiowa, migrated to the Oklahoma and Texas regions. For most of the 18th century, the French exerted nominal control over the Oklahoma region as part of French Louisiana. The largest French settlements were along the Gulf Coast, in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama. The limited interaction between the Native American and European peoples was based on fur trading. In 1803, the French sold this territory as Louisiana Purchase to the US, under President Thomas Jefferson. European Americans continued to migrate into the Southeast and across the Mississippi River into Indian territories, especially seeking territory to expand cotton cultivation, which was a lucrative commodity crop. They pressured the government to give them access to Indian lands. In 1830, under President Andrew Jackson, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act, which removed American Indian tribes from the Southeast and relocated them to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River. The southern part of…

Geography

The city has a total area of , all land. Lawton is located about southwest of Oklahoma City. Other surrounding cities include Wichita Falls about to the south, Duncan about to the east, and Altus about to the west. Lawton lies in an area typical of the Great Plains, with prairie, few trees, and flat topography with gently rolling hills. The area consists mostly of Permian limestone on the northern sections of the city. Lawton lies in a relatively dry humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification Cfa), with frequent variations in weather daily, except during the constantly hot and dry summer. Frequent strong winds, usually from the south or south-southeast during the summer, help to lessen the hotter weather. Northerly winds during the winter can occasionally intensify cold periods. The average mean temperature for southwest Oklahoma is 62.6 °F (17.0 °C). The summers can be mildly hot; Lawton averages 21 days with temperatures 100 °F (37.8 °C) and above. The winters are typically mild, though periods of extreme cold can occur. Lawton averages eight days that fail to rise above freezing. Most notably, an F4 tornado in 1957, and an F3 tornado in 1979 struck the southern region of the city.

Race & ethnicity

Largest nearby schools

• LAWTON HS
  High · Lawton · 1,417 students · 12.8:1 ratio
• EISENHOWER HS
  High · Lawton · 1,350 students · 19.9:1 ratio
• FREEDOM ES
  Elementary · Lawton · 1,285 students · 21.1:1 ratio
• MACARTHUR HS
  High · Lawton · 1,163 students · 20.1:1 ratio
• EISENHOWER MS
  Middle · Lawton · 1,035 students · 17.5:1 ratio
• CENTRAL MS
  Middle · Lawton · 994 students · 16.6:1 ratio
• MACARTHUR MS
  Middle · Lawton · 865 students · 17:1 ratio
• BISHOP PUBLIC SCHOOL
  Elementary · Lawton · 570 students · 21.9:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 2.72 — 2026-05-15
  4 km SE of Ratliff City, Oklahoma
• M 2.91 — 2026-03-22
  5 km SE of Ratliff City, Oklahoma
• M 2.76 — 2026-03-21
  10 km N of Alex, Oklahoma
• M 3.27 — 2026-03-01
  7 km SE of Ratliff City, Oklahoma
• M 2.53 — 2026-02-28
  6 km SE of Ratliff City, Oklahoma
• M 2.67 — 2026-02-26
  7 km SE of Ratliff City, Oklahoma