Oklahoma City was settled on April 22, 1889, when the area known as Unassigned Lands was opened for settlement in an event known as the Land Rush of 1889. About ten thousand settlers settled in the area. The city grew rapidly; the population doubled between 1890 and 1900. Early leaders of development included Anton Classen, John Shartel, Henry Overholser") and James W. Maney").

By the time Oklahoma was admitted to the Union in 1907, Oklahoma City had surpassed the Guthrie territorial capital "Guthrie (Oklahoma)") as a population and commercial center, so it became the state capital.[9] Oklahoma City was an important stop on Route 66 during the early part of the century; It is mentioned in Bobby Troup's 1946 jazz song "(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66 "Route 66 (song)", which was popularized by Nat King Cole.

Before World War II, it developed a major meat processing industry, attracting jobs and income formerly in Chicago and Omaha ("Omaha (Nebraska)"). With the discovery of oil in 1928 within the city limits (including under the state Capitol), Oklahoma City became a major oil center.[10] Postwar growth accompanied the construction of the Interstate Highway System, which made Oklahoma City a major interchange as the convergence of I-35, I-40, and I-44. It was also aided by the federal development of Tinker Air Force Base.

In 1950, the Census Bureau reported that the city's population was 8.6% black and 90.7% white.[11]​.

Patience Latting was elected mayor of Oklahoma City in 1971, becoming the city's first female mayor. Latting was also the first woman to serve as mayor of an American city with more than three hundred and fifty thousand residents.

Like many other American cities, the inner-city population declined in the 1970s and 1980s as families followed newly built highways to move to newer housing in nearby suburbs. Urban renewal projects in the 1970s, including the Pei Plan&action=edit&redlink=1 "Pei (Oklahoma City) Plan (not yet drafted)"), removed older structures but failed to generate much new development, leaving the city dotted with vacant lots used for parking. A notable exception was the construction of the Myriad Gardens, a botanical garden in the heart of the city. Historical buildings of architectural significance that were lost due to clearances were the Criterion Theatre,[13]​[14]​ the Baum Building,[15]​ the Hales Building,[16]​[17]​ and the Biltmore Hotel.[18]​.

In 1993, the city approved a massive redevelopment package known as Metropolitan Area Projects (MAPS), aimed at rebuilding the city center with civic projects to establish more activities and life downtown. The city added a new baseball park; a central library; renovations to the civic center, the Cox Convention Center and the fairgrounds; and a water canal in the Bricktown entertainment district. Water taxis transport passengers within the district, adding color and activity along the canal.

MAPS has become one of the most successful public-private partnerships undertaken in the United States, surpassing three billion dollars in private investment in 2010.[19]​ As a result of MAPS, the population living in downtown housing has increased exponentially, along with demand for additional residential and retail amenities, such as groceries, services, and stores.

Since the completion of the MAPS projects, the city center has seen continued development. Several downtown buildings are being renovated/restored. These include the restoration of the Skirvin Hotel") in 2007. The famous First National Center is being renovated.&action=edit&redlink=1 "First National Center (Oklahoma City) (not yet drafted)").

Oklahoma City residents suffered substantial losses on April 19, 1995, when Timothy McVeigh detonated a bomb in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. It was left in ruins (its remains had to implode in a controlled demolition later that year), more than one hundred nearby buildings were severely damaged, and 168 people were killed.[20]​ The Oklahoma City National Memorial was built on the site.[21]​ Since its dedication in 2000, more than three million people have visited. Each year on April 19, survivors, family and friends return to the site to read the names of the deceased. McVeigh was executed by lethal injection on June 11, 2001.

The Core-to-Shore project was created to relocate Interstate 40, 1.6 km to the south, and replace it with a boulevard to create a landscaped entrance to the city.[22] This also allows downtown to expand southward and connect with the Oklahoma River shore. Several Core-to-Shore elements were included in the MAPS 3") proposal approved by voters in late 2009.

Contenido

Se encuentra a lo largo de uno de los corredores principales hacia Texas y México, y está a tres horas en automóvil del Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. Está en la región de Frontier Country, situada en el centro del estado.

Según la Oficina del Censo, tiene un área total de 1607 km²,[23]​ de las cuales 1557 km² es tierra y 50 km² es agua.

Oklahoma City se encuentra en la región de Sandstone Hills de Oklahoma, conocida por colinas de 80 a 120 m y dos especies de roble: el roble negro (Quercus marilandica) y el roble de posta (Q. stellata).[24]​ La parte noreste de la ciudad y sus suburbios del este caen en una región ecológica conocida como Cross Timbers").[25]​.

La ciudad está dividida aproximadamente en dos por el río North Canadian (recientemente rebautizado río Oklahoma dentro de los límites de la ciudad). El North Canadian tuvo suficiente flujo para inundarse todos los años, causando destrucción en las áreas circundantes, incluido el distrito comercial central y el zoológico original. [26]​ En los años 1940, se construyó una presa río gestionar su nivel.[27]​ En los años 1990, como parte del proyecto de revitalización conocido como MAPS, se construyeron una serie de presas, que devolvieron el agua a la parte del río que fluye cerca del centro.[28]​ La ciudad tiene tres grandes lagos: el Hefner") y el Overholser"), en el barrio noroeste; y el más grande, el Stanley Draper"), en el extremo sureste, escasamente poblado.

La densidad de población que se informa normalmente para Oklahoma City utilizando el área de los límites de la ciudad puede ser engañosa. Su zona urbanizada cubre aproximadamente 632 km² resultando en una densidad estimada en 2013 de 970 hab./km², en comparación con las áreas de cuencas hidrográficas rurales más grandes incorporadas por la ciudad, que cubren las 976 km² de los límites de la ciudad.[29]​.

Es una de las ciudades más grandes del Estados Unidos que cumple con la Ley de Aire Limpio&action=edit&redlink=1 "Ley de aire limpio (Estados Unidos) (aún no redactado)").[30]​.

Climate

Oklahoma City has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen: Cfa), with very hot, humid summers and cold winters with occasional snowfall. Prolonged and severe droughts (sometimes leading to nearby forest fires), as well as very heavy rainfall causing flash floods and floods, occur with some regularity. Steady winds, generally from the south or south-southeast during the summer, help moderate the warmer climate. Constant northerly winds during winter can intensify cold periods. Severe ice and snow storms occur sporadically during the winter.

The average temperature is 15.6 °C, with a daily monthly average ranging from 3.4 °C in January to 27.6 °C in July. Extremes range from -27 °C on February 12, 1899 to 45 °C on August 11, 1936 and August 3, 2012.[41] Temperatures reach 38 °C on 10.4 days of the year, 32 °C on almost seventy days, and do not rise above freezing on 8.3 days. The city receives about 92.4 cm of precipitation per year, of which 17 cm is snow.

NOAA's 2013 Regional Climate Trends and Scenarios for the US National Climate Assessment (NCA) report projects that parts of the Great Plains region can expect up to 30% (high emissions scenario based on CMIP3 and NARCCAP models) of extreme precipitation days by mid-century. This definition is based on days that receive more than one inch of rain.[42]​.

Oklahoma City has a very active severe weather season from March to June, especially in April and May. Being in the center of what is colloquially known as Tornado Alley, it is prone to especially frequent and severe tornadoes, as well as very strong hail storms and occasional derechoes.

Tornadoes have occurred in all months of the year and a smaller secondary peak also occurs during the fall, especially in October. The Oklahoma City metropolitan area is one of the world's most tornado-prone major cities, with about one hundred and fifty since 1890. Since weather records were kept, it has been struck by thirteen violent tornadoes, eleven rated F/EF4 and two F/EF5.[5]​.

On May 3, 1999, parts of Oklahoma City and surrounding communities were affected by a tornado. It was the last United States tornado to receive a rating of F5 on the Fujita scale before the improved Fujita scale replaced it in 2007. While the tornado was in the vicinity of Bridge Creek to the southwest, wind speeds of 510 km/h were estimated by mobile Doppler radar, the highest wind speeds ever recorded on Earth.[47]

A second large-scale tornado occurred on May 20, 2013; South Oklahoma City, along with Newcastle "Newcastle (Oklahoma)") and Moore "Moore (Oklahoma)"), was hit by an EF5 tornado. The tornado was 0.80 to 2.09 km wide and killed twenty-three people.[48] On May 31, less than two weeks after the May 20 event, another outbreak affected the Oklahoma City area. Within Oklahoma City, the system spawned an EF1 and EF0 tornado, and in El Reno to the west, an EF3 tornado occurred. This latest tornado, which was heading in the direction of Oklahoma City before dissipating, was 2.6 miles wide, making it the widest ever recorded. In addition, winds exceeding 475 km/h were measured, one of two records for a tornado.[49]​.

With 495 mm of rain, May 2015 was by far the wettest month in the city's history since records began being kept in 1890. In Oklahoma and Texas as a whole, there was record flooding in the latter part of the month.[50]​.

• - Portal:Oklahoma. Content related to Oklahoma.

• - Wikimedia Commons hosts a multimedia gallery about Oklahoma City.

• - Official website of the city.

• - Oklahoma City tourist information.

• - Visitors and convention office.

• - City data page.

• - Oklahoma City Film Row Historic District Website Archived March 11, 2018 at the Wayback Machine.

• - New York Times travel article about Oklahoma City.

• - OKC.NET cultural commentary on Oklahoma City.

• - Voices of Oklahoma interview with Ron Norick, mayor during the Oklahoma City bombing.

Oklahoma City was settled on April 22, 1889, when the area known as Unassigned Lands was opened for settlement in an event known as the Land Rush of 1889. About ten thousand settlers settled in the area. The city grew rapidly; the population doubled between 1890 and 1900. Early leaders of development included Anton Classen, John Shartel, Henry Overholser") and James W. Maney").

By the time Oklahoma was admitted to the Union in 1907, Oklahoma City had surpassed the Guthrie territorial capital "Guthrie (Oklahoma)") as a population and commercial center, so it became the state capital.[9] Oklahoma City was an important stop on Route 66 during the early part of the century; It is mentioned in Bobby Troup's 1946 jazz song "(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66 "Route 66 (song)", which was popularized by Nat King Cole.

Before World War II, it developed a major meat processing industry, attracting jobs and income formerly in Chicago and Omaha ("Omaha (Nebraska)"). With the discovery of oil in 1928 within the city limits (including under the state Capitol), Oklahoma City became a major oil center.[10] Postwar growth accompanied the construction of the Interstate Highway System, which made Oklahoma City a major interchange as the convergence of I-35, I-40, and I-44. It was also aided by the federal development of Tinker Air Force Base.

In 1950, the Census Bureau reported that the city's population was 8.6% black and 90.7% white.[11]​.

Patience Latting was elected mayor of Oklahoma City in 1971, becoming the city's first female mayor. Latting was also the first woman to serve as mayor of an American city with more than three hundred and fifty thousand residents.

Like many other American cities, the inner-city population declined in the 1970s and 1980s as families followed newly built highways to move to newer housing in nearby suburbs. Urban renewal projects in the 1970s, including the Pei Plan&action=edit&redlink=1 "Pei (Oklahoma City) Plan (not yet drafted)"), removed older structures but failed to generate much new development, leaving the city dotted with vacant lots used for parking. A notable exception was the construction of the Myriad Gardens, a botanical garden in the heart of the city. Historical buildings of architectural significance that were lost due to clearances were the Criterion Theatre,[13]​[14]​ the Baum Building,[15]​ the Hales Building,[16]​[17]​ and the Biltmore Hotel.[18]​.

In 1993, the city approved a massive redevelopment package known as Metropolitan Area Projects (MAPS), aimed at rebuilding the city center with civic projects to establish more activities and life downtown. The city added a new baseball park; a central library; renovations to the civic center, the Cox Convention Center and the fairgrounds; and a water canal in the Bricktown entertainment district. Water taxis transport passengers within the district, adding color and activity along the canal.

MAPS has become one of the most successful public-private partnerships undertaken in the United States, surpassing three billion dollars in private investment in 2010.[19]​ As a result of MAPS, the population living in downtown housing has increased exponentially, along with demand for additional residential and retail amenities, such as groceries, services, and stores.

Since the completion of the MAPS projects, the city center has seen continued development. Several downtown buildings are being renovated/restored. These include the restoration of the Skirvin Hotel") in 2007. The famous First National Center is being renovated.&action=edit&redlink=1 "First National Center (Oklahoma City) (not yet drafted)").

Oklahoma City residents suffered substantial losses on April 19, 1995, when Timothy McVeigh detonated a bomb in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. It was left in ruins (its remains had to implode in a controlled demolition later that year), more than one hundred nearby buildings were severely damaged, and 168 people were killed.[20]​ The Oklahoma City National Memorial was built on the site.[21]​ Since its dedication in 2000, more than three million people have visited. Each year on April 19, survivors, family and friends return to the site to read the names of the deceased. McVeigh was executed by lethal injection on June 11, 2001.

The Core-to-Shore project was created to relocate Interstate 40, 1.6 km to the south, and replace it with a boulevard to create a landscaped entrance to the city.[22] This also allows downtown to expand southward and connect with the Oklahoma River shore. Several Core-to-Shore elements were included in the MAPS 3") proposal approved by voters in late 2009.

Contenido

Se encuentra a lo largo de uno de los corredores principales hacia Texas y México, y está a tres horas en automóvil del Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. Está en la región de Frontier Country, situada en el centro del estado.

Según la Oficina del Censo, tiene un área total de 1607 km²,[23]​ de las cuales 1557 km² es tierra y 50 km² es agua.

Oklahoma City se encuentra en la región de Sandstone Hills de Oklahoma, conocida por colinas de 80 a 120 m y dos especies de roble: el roble negro (Quercus marilandica) y el roble de posta (Q. stellata).[24]​ La parte noreste de la ciudad y sus suburbios del este caen en una región ecológica conocida como Cross Timbers").[25]​.

La ciudad está dividida aproximadamente en dos por el río North Canadian (recientemente rebautizado río Oklahoma dentro de los límites de la ciudad). El North Canadian tuvo suficiente flujo para inundarse todos los años, causando destrucción en las áreas circundantes, incluido el distrito comercial central y el zoológico original. [26]​ En los años 1940, se construyó una presa río gestionar su nivel.[27]​ En los años 1990, como parte del proyecto de revitalización conocido como MAPS, se construyeron una serie de presas, que devolvieron el agua a la parte del río que fluye cerca del centro.[28]​ La ciudad tiene tres grandes lagos: el Hefner") y el Overholser"), en el barrio noroeste; y el más grande, el Stanley Draper"), en el extremo sureste, escasamente poblado.

La densidad de población que se informa normalmente para Oklahoma City utilizando el área de los límites de la ciudad puede ser engañosa. Su zona urbanizada cubre aproximadamente 632 km² resultando en una densidad estimada en 2013 de 970 hab./km², en comparación con las áreas de cuencas hidrográficas rurales más grandes incorporadas por la ciudad, que cubren las 976 km² de los límites de la ciudad.[29]​.

Es una de las ciudades más grandes del Estados Unidos que cumple con la Ley de Aire Limpio&action=edit&redlink=1 "Ley de aire limpio (Estados Unidos) (aún no redactado)").[30]​.

Climate

Oklahoma City has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen: Cfa), with very hot, humid summers and cold winters with occasional snowfall. Prolonged and severe droughts (sometimes leading to nearby forest fires), as well as very heavy rainfall causing flash floods and floods, occur with some regularity. Steady winds, generally from the south or south-southeast during the summer, help moderate the warmer climate. Constant northerly winds during winter can intensify cold periods. Severe ice and snow storms occur sporadically during the winter.

The average temperature is 15.6 °C, with a daily monthly average ranging from 3.4 °C in January to 27.6 °C in July. Extremes range from -27 °C on February 12, 1899 to 45 °C on August 11, 1936 and August 3, 2012.[41] Temperatures reach 38 °C on 10.4 days of the year, 32 °C on almost seventy days, and do not rise above freezing on 8.3 days. The city receives about 92.4 cm of precipitation per year, of which 17 cm is snow.

NOAA's 2013 Regional Climate Trends and Scenarios for the US National Climate Assessment (NCA) report projects that parts of the Great Plains region can expect up to 30% (high emissions scenario based on CMIP3 and NARCCAP models) of extreme precipitation days by mid-century. This definition is based on days that receive more than one inch of rain.[42]​.

Oklahoma City has a very active severe weather season from March to June, especially in April and May. Being in the center of what is colloquially known as Tornado Alley, it is prone to especially frequent and severe tornadoes, as well as very strong hail storms and occasional derechoes.

Tornadoes have occurred in all months of the year and a smaller secondary peak also occurs during the fall, especially in October. The Oklahoma City metropolitan area is one of the world's most tornado-prone major cities, with about one hundred and fifty since 1890. Since weather records were kept, it has been struck by thirteen violent tornadoes, eleven rated F/EF4 and two F/EF5.[5]​.

On May 3, 1999, parts of Oklahoma City and surrounding communities were affected by a tornado. It was the last United States tornado to receive a rating of F5 on the Fujita scale before the improved Fujita scale replaced it in 2007. While the tornado was in the vicinity of Bridge Creek to the southwest, wind speeds of 510 km/h were estimated by mobile Doppler radar, the highest wind speeds ever recorded on Earth.[47]

A second large-scale tornado occurred on May 20, 2013; South Oklahoma City, along with Newcastle "Newcastle (Oklahoma)") and Moore "Moore (Oklahoma)"), was hit by an EF5 tornado. The tornado was 0.80 to 2.09 km wide and killed twenty-three people.[48] On May 31, less than two weeks after the May 20 event, another outbreak affected the Oklahoma City area. Within Oklahoma City, the system spawned an EF1 and EF0 tornado, and in El Reno to the west, an EF3 tornado occurred. This latest tornado, which was heading in the direction of Oklahoma City before dissipating, was 2.6 miles wide, making it the widest ever recorded. In addition, winds exceeding 475 km/h were measured, one of two records for a tornado.[49]​.

With 495 mm of rain, May 2015 was by far the wettest month in the city's history since records began being kept in 1890. In Oklahoma and Texas as a whole, there was record flooding in the latter part of the month.[50]​.

• - Portal:Oklahoma. Content related to Oklahoma.

• - Wikimedia Commons hosts a multimedia gallery about Oklahoma City.

• - Official website of the city.

• - Oklahoma City tourist information.

• - Visitors and convention office.

• - City data page.

• - Oklahoma City Film Row Historic District Website Archived March 11, 2018 at the Wayback Machine.

• - New York Times travel article about Oklahoma City.

• - OKC.NET cultural commentary on Oklahoma City.

• - Voices of Oklahoma interview with Ron Norick, mayor during the Oklahoma City bombing.