Tag: Newkirk
Newkirk is a city in Kay County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 2,317 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Kay County.
Newkirk is located on land known as the Cherokee Strip which belonged to the Cherokee Indians. In 1893, the Cherokee sold the land to the United States government. The land was opened to White settlement by means of the Cherokee Strip Land Run on September 16, 1893. More than 100,000 people raced to claim plots of land.
The town of Newkirk had been laid out before the Run by the government as the county seat of “K” county. It was named Lamoreaux after Silas W. Lamoreaux who was Commissioner of the General Land Office. Two miles north of Lamoreaux was “Kirk” a station of the Santa Fe Railroad.
That first day of the Land Run, 5,000 people staked claims in and near Lamoreaux. Claimants were allowed two town lots: one for a home and one for a business. In designated rural areas claimants could select 160 acres. The population quickly dropped to about…
