Maud

History

This community was established by 1890 on the dividing line between Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory. In 1890, a barbed-wire fence was built along the street now called Broadway from the North Canadian River to the Canadian River to keep the Native Americans out of Oklahoma Territory. However, the fence failed to prevent the illegal sale of alcohol to residents of Indian Territory. Newspapers reported that the charred bodies remained chained to an oak tree for several days after the mob murdered them. Unlike in most lynchings, some members of the mob were actually convicted of participating in the violence. When one of these men was released from the federal penitentiary in Leavenworth in 1906, a celebratory crowd welcomed him home to Maud. A railroad station was built by the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway in 1903. The city was formally incorporated on July 21, 1905. The 1910 census showed a population of 503. Maud became a boom town in the early 1920s because oil was discovered nearby. The peak population was estimated at 10,000. The boom was short-lived, and the population was only 4,326 at the 1930 census.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all land.

Race & ethnicity