Welcome to Norman, a city rich with beauty, activity, culture and excitement. We are Oklahoma’s 3rd largest city and voted the 6th best place to live by Money Magazine. Whether you’re here on vacation or business, you’ll find everything you need.

Norman is not only home to The University of Oklahoma, but critically acclaimed performing arts, Smithsonian-rivaling museums, colorful art galleries filled with both local and renowned artists, nationally recognized events, fabulous restaurants and a exciting nightlife.

A Little History - Norman

Norman’s rich history plays an important role in the lives of today’s citizens who build on our history for the future.

In 1870, a young surveyor, Abner E. Norman, was hired to survey much of the Oklahoma Territory. The surveyor’s crew burned the words “Norman’s Camp” into an elm tree to taunt the young surveyor. When the “Sooners” (those who headed west before the official Land Run on April 22, 1889) and other settlers arrived in the heart of Oklahoma, they kept the name “Norman.”

Norman was developed around the Santa Fe Railroad and became the head quarters for the railway. The depot expanded three times in its first few years of existence. The last expansion was in 1909. This booming railroad system laid the foundation for Norman to flourish into a prominent city.

While other Oklahoma towns were battling to be the capitol, Norman’s Mayor, T.R. Waggoner directed a bill through the territorial legislature to become home to the state’s first institution of higher learning. For Norman to become the home of The University of Oklahoma, residents were required to donate 40 acres of land for a campus site. Norman residents embraced these plans, and by 1895, the university enrolled 100 students. Together the city of Norman and the university have grown and matured into nationally recognized destinations. The diverse members of our community, students and residents alike, infuse a progressive spirit into the area and make Norman a special place to visit. We invite you to experience the history that makes Norman unique.

A Little History - Oklahoma

The land area that is now Oklahoma (Choctaw word for “red people”) became part of the United States on November 3, 1803 as part of the Louisiana Purchase. This land formed parts of the homelands of the Kiowa, the Kiowa-Apache, the Wichita, the Osage, the Caddo, and the Comanche. When Congress created Arkansas Territory on March 2, 1819, it included the area that is present-day Oklahoma west to the one hundredth meridian. In 1830, the federal government adopted a formal policy of removal of the Five Tribes—Choctaw, Cherokee, Creek, Seminole and Chickasaw—from their southeastern homelands to the western half of Arkansas Territory that would then become known as Indian Territory. Following the Civil War in 1865, the United States established a commission to renegotiate treaty relationships with the Five Tribes. Because the governments of the Five Tribes had supported the confederacy during the war, the federal government placed harsh demands on the tribes. In 1866, these demands resulted in the tribes’ granting right-of-ways for railroads and signing treaties in which the tribes ceded large areas of their lands to the United States.
 
In these treaties, the Creeks gave title to the western portion of their lands and the Seminoles gave title to all of their land. From these land areas, the government retained a large block that became known as the Unassigned Lands to be held for other Indian tribes. However, in 1889 it became increasingly clear that the federal government was intent upon opening the Unassigned Lands for settlement. Both tribes were paid by the United States to relinquish all former restrictions placed upon this land, freeing the lands for settlement. On March 23, 1889, President Harrison issued a proclamation opening the unassigned lands to settlement on April 22, 1889.

Several years prior to the land run of April 22, 1889, the United States Land Office contracted with private land surveyors to survey the land area comprising the Unassigned Lands into township/range square miles. This survey was scheduled in anticipation of the Unassigned Lands’ being opened for future settlement. The contract was signed in July 1870, and survey work began shortly thereafter.

(Historical information courtesy of Robert Goins.)