Moore

History

The Moore post office was established May 27, 1889, during the Land Run of 1889 and was named for Al Moore, an Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway employee. According to the town history he was a "conductor or a brakeman, lived in a boxcar at the camp and had difficulty receiving his mail. He painted his name – "Moore" – on a board and nailed it on the boxcar. When a postmaster was appointed, he continued to call the settlement Moore. When the town incorporated in 1893 the name was legalized." The city's history notes that the community before the post office may have been called "Verbeck" by the railroad. The community remained small until 1961, when it annexed , becoming a full-fledged city in 1962, which in turn increased its population from 1,221 in 1960 to 18,761 in 1970 and 55,081 in 2010. In 1966 the Hillsdale Free Will Baptist College, after moving through various locations around Oklahoma, opened in the community. The Moore post office turned into a branch of the Oklahoma City post office on January 7, 1972. Some of the water towers now have a sign that says, "Moore - Home of Toby Keith." On September 24, 2014, at the local Vaughan Foods food processing plant, one employee was beheaded with a knife and another coworker had her throat slit and was injured, but survived. The alleged attacker, 30-year-old Alton Nolen, who was on suspension from the plant prior to the attack due to interactions with the employee who survived the attack, was shot and wounded by company owner Mark Vaughan. Nolen was convicted of murder and assault in October 2017. A jury recommended that he receive the death penalty, and, on December 15, 2017, a judge sentenced Nolen to death by lethal injection.

Geography

Moore is located just south of Oklahoma City and north of Norman, in central Oklahoma. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and , or 1.52%, is water. The city lies in the Sandstone Hills region of Oklahoma, known for hills, blackjack oak, and post oak.

Race & ethnicity

Largest nearby schools

• MOORE HS
  High · Moore · 2,636 students · 22.2:1 ratio
• WESTMOORE HS
  High · Oklahoma City · 2,596 students · 20.8:1 ratio
• NORMAN NORTH HS
  High · Norman · 2,401 students · 20.5:1 ratio
• NORMAN HS
  High · Norman · 2,137 students · 20.7:1 ratio
• SOUTHMOORE HS
  High · Moore · 2,058 students · 20:1 ratio
• WHITTIER MS
  Middle · Norman · 1,016 students · 17.2:1 ratio
• HIGHLAND EAST JHS
  Middle · Moore · 789 students · 19.2:1 ratio
• IRVING MS
  Middle · Norman · 788 students · 16.1:1 ratio