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Adair County, Oklahoma
Adair County Oklahoma courthouse
Adair County Courthouse
Map of Oklahoma highlighting Adair County
Location in the state of Oklahoma
Map of the U.S
Oklahoma's location in the U.S.
Founded July 16, 1907
Named for The Adair family of the Cherokee tribe.
Seat Stilwell
Largest city Stilwell
Area
 - Total
 - Land
 - Water

577 sq mi (1,494 km²)
573 sq mi (1,484 km²)
3.6 sq mi (9 km²), 0.6%
Population
 - (2020)
 - Density

19,495
40/sq mi (15/km²)
Congressional district 2nd
Time zone Central: UTC-6/-5

Adair County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of the 2020 census, the population was 19,495.[1] Its county seat is Stilwell.[2] Adair County was named after the Adair family of the Cherokee tribe.[3] One source says that the county was specifically named for Watt Adair, one of the first Cherokees to settle in the area.[4]

History[]

Cherokee Nation Resettlement[]

In 1838 the town of Stilwell, Oklahoma became an end point of the Trail of Tears when the U.S. federal government forcibly relocated thousands of Indigenous people to the area. The event was called nu na da ul tsun yi in Cherokee language, or "the place where they cried". The U.S. federal government set up a “disbandment depot” outside what is present-day Stilwell in the early months of 1839 to distribute food and supplies to the newly arrived Indigenous people.[5] Those with resources quickly left to settle across the rest of Indian Territory, but the sickest and poorest stayed in the Stilwell area, close to the safety of the depot.[6]

Included in these refugees was the Adair Family of future tribal chieftan George Washington Adair (1806-1862).

County Formation 1906[]

The county was created in 1906 from the Goingsnake and Flint districts of the Cherokee Nation.[7] There was a decade-long struggle over what town would become the county seat between Stilwell and Westville.[8] When the county was formed, Westville was identified as the county seat, due partly to its location at the intersection of two major railroads: the Kansas City Southern Railway and the St. Louis – San Francisco Railway.[9] The county seat was moved to Stilwell in 1910.[10]

During the Great Depression and World War II, strawberries became a major crop in Adair County. In 1948, the first Stilwell Strawberry Festival was organized. The 2002 festival saw some 40,000 people in attendance.[8]

The 1910 census counted 10,535 residents.[7] By 1990, it was up to 18,421.[7]

Geography[]

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 577 square miles (1,490 km2), of which 573 square miles (1,480 km2) is land and 3.6 square miles (9.3 km2) (0.6%) is water.[11]

The county is part of the Ozark plateau uplift, the tree-covered foothills of the Boston Mountains.[7] North and central Adair County are drained by the Illinois River and three creeks.[7] Two more creeks lie near Stilwell.[7]

Major highways[]

  • US 59 U.S. Highway 59
  • US 62 U.S. Highway 62
  • Oklahoma State Highway 51 State Highway 51

Adjacent counties[]

National protected area[]

  • Ozark Plateau National Wildlife Refuge

Demographics[]

Historical populations
Census Pop.
1910 10,535
1920 13,703 30.1%
1930 14,756 7.7%
1940 15,755 6.8%
1950 14,918 −5.3%
1960 13,112 −12.1%
1970 15,141 15.5%
1980 18,575 22.7%
1990 18,421 −0.8%
2000 21,038 14.2%
2010 22,683 7.8%
U.S. Decennial Census[12]
1790-1960[13] 1900-1990[14]
1990-2000[15] 2010-2020[1]
USA Adair County, Oklahoma age pyramid

Age pyramid for Adair County, Oklahoma, based on census 2000 data.

As of the census[16] of 2010, Adair County had a small population relative to its surrounding counties, with only 21,038 people, a large percentage of them, 43.3 percent, Native American. The remainder of the population was 43 percent white, 10.5 percent of more than one race, and 5.3 percent Hispanic or Latino. Less than 1 percent of the population was either Black or African American, Asian, or Pacific Islander, and 2.3 percent were identified as other. This makes it the only majority-minority county in Oklahoma. Adair county had a higher percentage of Native Americans (American Indians) in its population than any other Oklahoma county.[17]

The median age of the population was 36.2 years and two-thirds of the county's population were either under the age of 18 (28 percent) or between the ages of 25 to 44 (24.8 percent). Of the remaining population, 25.9 percent were ages 45 to 64, 12.9 percent were 65 years of age or older, and 13.2 percent were ages 18 to 24. For every 100 females there were 100.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 98.3 males.

There were a total of 8,156 households and 5,982 families in the county in 2010. There were 9,142 housing units. Of the 8,156 households, 31.4 percent included children under the age of 18 and slightly more than half (52.7 percent) included married couples living together. 26.7 percent were non-family, 14.2 percent had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.8 percent contained a single individual of 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.77 and the average family size was 3.25.

The median income for a household in the county was $27,258, and the median income for a family was $32,930. Males had a median income of $28,370 versus $23,384 for females. The per capita income for the county was $13,560. About 25.3 percent of families and 27.8 percent of the population were below the poverty line, including 36.8 percent of those under age 18 and 18.7 percent of those age 65 or over.

Politics[]

Voter Registration and Party Enrollment as of November 1, 2019[18]
Party Number of Voters Percentage
style="background-color:#3333FF;" width=10px | Democratic 4,904 47.97%
style="background-color:#FF3333;" width=10px | Republican 4,069 39.80%
style="background-color:#ffffcc;" width=10px | Others 1,211 11.84%
Total 10,224 100%
United States presidential election results for Adair County, Oklahoma[19]
Year Republican Democratic Third party
No.  % No.  % No.  %
2020 5,585 78.57% 1,387 19.51% 136 1.91%
2016 4,787 73.50% 1,382 21.22% 344 5.28%
2012 4,381 67.32% 2,127 32.68% 0 0.00%
2008 4,638 69.33% 2,052 30.67% 0 0.00%
2004 4,971 65.99% 2,562 34.01% 0 0.00%
2000 3,503 58.61% 2,361 39.50% 113 1.89%
1996 2,956 45.33% 2,792 42.82% 773 11.85%
1992 2,994 45.48% 2,645 40.18% 944 14.34%
1988 3,558 57.02% 2,624 42.05% 58 0.93%
1984 4,423 65.57% 2,266 33.60% 56 0.83%
1980 3,429 54.08% 2,761 43.54% 151 2.38%
1976 3,013 48.14% 3,183 50.85% 63 1.01%
1972 4,720 73.12% 1,601 24.80% 134 2.08%
1968 2,877 53.02% 1,549 28.55% 1,000 18.43%
1964 2,859 48.77% 3,003 51.23% 0 0.00%
1960 3,655 65.76% 1,903 34.24% 0 0.00%
1956 3,152 56.59% 2,418 43.41% 0 0.00%
1952 3,037 52.71% 2,725 47.29% 0 0.00%
1948 2,407 43.97% 3,067 56.03% 0 0.00%
1944 2,792 50.18% 2,760 49.60% 12 0.22%
1940 3,275 50.51% 3,203 49.40% 6 0.09%
1936 2,699 45.19% 3,257 54.54% 16 0.27%
1932 1,941 33.74% 3,812 66.26% 0 0.00%
1928 2,867 59.35% 1,944 40.24% 20 0.41%
1924 2,317 51.63% 1,942 43.27% 229 5.10%
1920 2,181 57.99% 1,559 41.45% 21 0.56%
1916 1,010 41.72% 1,190 49.15% 221 9.13%
1912 850 44.18% 916 47.61% 158 8.21%
1908 782 47.86% 825 50.49% 27 1.65%



While Adair County has a majority of Democrats among its registered voters, it is unusual as an example of a majority-minority county that votes Republican. No Democrat has won Adair County since Jimmy Carter in 1976.

Economy[]

The county is home to food processing and canning industries; poultry farms; cattle ranches; horse breeders; dog breeders, and strawberry fields.[20]

Communities[]

Adair County, Okla

Map of Adair County

Cities[]

Towns[]

  • Watts
  • Westville

Census-designated places[]

  • Baron
  • Bell
  • Bunch
  • Cave Spring
  • Chance
  • Cherry Tree
  • Chewey
  • Christie
  • Elm Grove
  • Elohim City
  • Fairfield
  • Greasy
  • Honey Hill
  • Lyons Switch
  • Marietta
  • Mulberry
  • Old Green
  • Peavine
  • Piney
  • Proctor
  • Rocky Mountain
  • Salem
  • Titanic
  • Watts Community (former)
  • Wauhillau
  • West Peavine
  • Zion

Other unincorporated places[]

  • Ballard
  • Lyons

NRHP sites[]

The following sites in Adair County are listed on the National Register of Historic Places:

  • Adair County Courthouse, Stilwell
  • Breadtown, Westville vicinity
  • Ballard Creek Roadbed, Westville vicinity
  • Buffington Hotel, Westville
  • Golda's Mill, Stilwell
  • Opera Block, Westville
  • Rev. Jesse Bushyhead Grave, Westville

References[]

Commons-logo
Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
  1. ^ a b "State & County QuickFacts". United States Census Bureau. http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/40/40001.html. 
  2. ^ "Find a County". National Association of Counties. http://www.naco.org/Counties/Pages/FindACounty.aspx. 
  3. ^ Oklahoma Almanac Online. Oklahoma Department of Libraries. http://www.odl.state.ok.us/almanac/2005/counties/adair.pdf. 
  4. ^ "Stilwell is part of 'Green County Oklahoma'"" Archived February 7, 2015, at the Wayback Machine Retrieved September 14, 2014.
  5. ^ "Stilwell and the Trail of Tears". https://www.nps.gov/trte/learn/historyculture/upload/TRTE_StilwellOK_MrsWebbers_3panels.pdf. 
  6. ^ World, Michael Overall Tulsa. "Stilwell, Oklahoma, has lowest life expectancy in the United States" (in en). https://tulsaworld.com/news/state-and-regional/stilwell-oklahoma-has-lowest-life-expectancy-in-the-united-states/article_c32cce0a-73cd-5506-a7c8-9d19843e818a.html. 
  7. ^ a b c d e f Whitaker, Rachel. "Adair County". Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. Oklahoma Historical Society. http://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=AD003. Retrieved June 13, 2010. 
  8. ^ a b Barker, Betty Starr. "Stilwell". Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. Oklahoma Historical Society. http://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=ST038. Retrieved June 13, 2010. 
  9. ^ Hill, Luther B. (1910). A History of the State of Oklahoma. I. The Lewis Publishing Company. p. 470. https://archive.org/stream/ahistorystateok00hillgoog#page/n504/mode/2up. 
  10. ^ Oklahoma Almanac 2005
  11. ^ "2010 Census Gazetteer Files". United States Census Bureau. August 22, 2012. http://www2.census.gov/geo/docs/maps-data/data/gazetteer/counties_list_40.txt. 
  12. ^ "U.S. Decennial Census". United States Census Bureau. https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census.html. 
  13. ^ "Historical Census Browser". University of Virginia Library. http://mapserver.lib.virginia.edu. 
  14. ^ Forstall, Richard L., ed (March 27, 1995). "Population of Counties by Decennial Census: 1900 to 1990". United States Census Bureau. https://www.census.gov/population/cencounts/ok190090.txt. 
  15. ^ "Census 2000 PHC-T-4. Ranking Tables for Counties: 1990 and 2000". United States Census Bureau. April 2, 2001. https://www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/briefs/phc-t4/tables/tab02.pdf. 
  16. ^ "U.S. Census website". United States Census Bureau. https://www.census.gov. 
  17. ^ "Oklahoma American Indian and Alaska Native Population by County". https://www.indexmundi.com/facts/united-states/quick-facts/oklahoma/american-indian-and-alaskan-native-population-percentage#map. 
  18. ^ "Oklahoma Registration Statistics by County". November 1, 2019. https://www.ok.gov/elections/documents/Voter%20Registration%20Statistics%20by%20County_as%20of%20November%201,%202019.pdf. 
  19. ^ Leip, David. "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections". http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS. 
  20. ^ Adair, Oklahoma Almanac, 2005 (accessed May 22, 2013)

See Also[]

External links[]

Template:NRHP in Adair County

Coordinates: 35°53′N 94°40′W / 35.88, -94.66



This page uses content from the English language Wikipedia. The original content was at Adair County, Oklahoma. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with this Familypedia wiki, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons License.
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