Walters, Oklahoma

The town the granite describes grew on the railroad and the county seat. The Enid and Anadarko Railway laid track through in 1901-02, a line the Rock Island took over in 1903, and by 1910 Walters had 1,377 residents, three banks, two newspapers and four hotels. In 1927 a three-story concrete courthouse designed by Tonini and Bramblett replaced the wooden one, and in the 1930s the Works Progress Administration built Lake Boyer for the town's water. The city bought the Rock Island depot in 1984 for a museum. Politician Fred Harris and actor Van Heflin were born here.

What the plaque says

Walters, Oklahoma Founded August 6, 1901, at the opening of Kiowa-Comanche-Apache lands. The original townsite in old Comanche County was SW 1/4, T2S, R11W. The original name McKnight was rejected by the post office. The name Walter, for city com- missioner W.R. Walter, was then chosen Sept. 1901. The town of Walter incorporated Sept. 1902 and changed officially to Walters in Dec. 1904, but the post office and depot continued to use Walter until an act of Congress, June 1917 renamed them Walters. After the flood of May 1902 the town moved south to higher ground. When Cotton Co. was created in 1912, voters chose Walters the county seat. Home to the Comanche Nation homecoming each July. Hometown to 8 of the original 17 "code talkers," who spoke Comanche to provide U.S. forces with a language that could not be de-coded during World War II. In the 1930's, Walters was known as the "Turkey Capital of the World." Still the hub of rich cotton, wheat, cattle and oil operations. Walters has many fine business- es and a school system that has produced national and state leaders as well as champion scholars and athletes. Active civic clubs, cultural groups and churches contribute to this friendly city's welcoming charm. Centennial Project, 2001 Oklahoma Historical Society 241-2001

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Comanche National Museum and Cultural Center — 18 mi
  The Comanche Nation's own museum in Lawton, built so that the history, art and lifeways of the Nʉmʉnʉʉ, The People, are told from a Comanche perspective.
• Chisholm Trail Heritage Center — 22 mi
  Duncan's museum of the cattle trail on US-81, with an 18-minute drive film, a western art gallery and the route through the Chickasaw Nation to Silver City and the Canadian.
• Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge — 30 mi
  Worn granite peaks and mixed-grass prairie in Comanche and Kiowa homeland, set aside in 1901 and restocked in 1907 with fifteen bison sent by train from the New York Zoological Park.

More markers nearby

• Big Pasture — 23 mi
• Waurika — 23 mi
• Craterville Park — 26 mi