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Oklahoma Counties
There are seventy-seven counties in Oklahoma. Oklahoma originally had seven counties when it was first organized as the Oklahoma Territory. These counties were designated numerically, first through seventh. New counties added after this were designated by letters of the alphabet. The first seven counties were later renamed. The Oklahoma Constitutional Convention named all of the counties that were formed when Oklahoma entered statehood in 1907. Only two counties have been formed since thenPottawatomie County, Oklahoma
Pottawatomie County Education, Geography, and History
Pottawatomie County is a county located in the state of Oklahoma. Based on the 2010 census, the population was 69,442. Its county seat is
Shawnee.
Pottawatomie County is part of the Shawnee, OK Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is included in the Oklahoma City-Shawnee, OK Combined
Statistical Area.
Etymology - Origin of Pottawatomie County Name
Named for an Indian tribe, a corruption of the Algonquin term "Pottawatomink," meaning "people of the place of fire."
Demographics:
County QuickFacts: CensusBureau Quick Facts
Pottawatomie County History
Pottawatomie County was carved out of land originally given to the Creek and Seminole after their forced
removal from Georgia and Florida. After the Civil War, the Creek and Seminole were forced to cede their lands back to the federal government,
and the area of Pottawatomie County was used to resettle the Iowa, Sac and Fox, Absentee Shawnee, Potawatomi and Kickapoo tribes.
Non-Indian settlement began on September 22, 1891 when all the tribes except the Kickapoo agreed to land allotment, where communal reservation
land was divided and allotted to individual members of the tribes. The remaining land was opened to settlement.
During the land run, Pottawatomie County was organized as County "B" with Tecumseh as the county seat. In 1892, the voters of the county
elected to rename County "B" as Pottawatomie County after the Potawatomi Indians.
In 1895, the Kickapoo gave up their land rights and their land was given away to white settlers in the last land run in Oklahoma.
In 1930, Shawnee, now bigger in size than Tecumseh, was approved by the voters to become the new county seat.
Oklahoma History Center
Bordered by Lincoln County to the north, Okfuskee and Seminole counties to the east, Pontotoc and McClain counties to
the south, and Cleveland and Oklahoma counties to the west, Pottawatomie County is situated in east-central Oklahoma.
The county encompasses 793.26 square miles of total land and water area and is drained by the North Canadian, Canadian,
and Little rivers. Most of the county lies in the Sandstone Hills physiographic region. At the turn of the twenty-first
century incorporated towns included Asher, Bethel Acres, Brooksville, Earlsboro, Johnson, Macomb, Maud, McLoud, Pink,
Saint Louis, Shawnee (county seat), Tecumseh, Tribbey, and Wanette....POTTAWATOMIE
COUNTY
Geography: Land and Water
As reported by the Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 793 square miles (2,050 km2), of which 788 square miles (2,040 km2) is land and 5.7 square miles (15 km2) (0.7%) is water.
Neighboring Counties
Bordering counties are as follows:
- Lincoln County (north)
- Okfuskee County (northeast)
- Seminole County (east)
- Pontotoc County (southeast)
- McClain County (southwest)
- Cleveland County (west)
- Oklahoma County (northwest)
Education
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