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Fun Facts About Chickasha »

• Founded in 1892, it began as Chickasha, IT (Indian Territory). In 1900, it had a population three times larger than Tulsa and was known as the “Queen of the Washita Valley”.
• During WWII, Chickasha was the home of the Wilson & Bonfils Flying School that began training fighter pilots for the Air Force in 1941, the Borden General Hospital established and used by the army and a German prisoner of war camp that was established in 1944 on the present site of Grady County Fairgrounds and Event Center.
• The nationally recognized Festival of Light is an award-winning exhibit of approximately 4 million lights displayed each year between Thanksgiving and New Year’s in Chickasha’s Shannon Springs Park. The spectacular display is enjoyed by over 300,000 guests and is produced primarily through the efforts of charitable contributions and volunteers since 1993.
• The first business in Chickasha was the “Cowboy Saloon” and was located in a tent.
• Shannon Springs, a spring–fed aquifer that comes out of Colorado, was a popular watering hole for the Chisholm Trail and home to the first public pool and zoo in Oklahoma.
• The Oklahoma Industrial Institute and College for Girls, established in Chickasha in 1908, was renamed the Oklahoma College for Women in 1916. In 1965, the college became coeducational and was renamed the Oklahoma College of Liberal Arts and is now known as the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma, which is nationally ranked academically and the ONLY public liberal arts college/university in Oklahoma.