Wakita, Oklahoma

Before the town's founding in 1893, there was a dispute over the right to name it. The town's postmaster and the owner of the first general store believed it should be named Whiteville. Local Deputy U.S. Marshall Herbert John Green motioned for the town be named after a Cherokee chief of local significance named Wakita (pronounced Wok-ih-taw). claimed it was probably a Greek word meaning "to cry" or "to lament". At statehood in 1907, Wakita had 388 residents; by 1910, it had grown to 405. ==Geography==

Wakita is northwest of Medford, the county seat, on State Highway 11A. According to the United States Census Bureau, it has a total area of , all land. ==Demographics==

2020 census As of the 2020 census, Wakita had a population of 311. The median age was 46.1 years. 19.6% of residents were under the age of 18 and 27.7% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 78.7 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 77.3 males age 18 and over. There were 132 households in Wakita, of which 31.1% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 34.8% were married-couple households, 22.7% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 31.8% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 42.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 23.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. There were 170 housing units, of which 22.4% were vacant. The homeowner vacancy rate was 2.9% and the rental vacancy rate was 9.5%. 2010 census As of the census of 2010, there were 344 people, 165 households, and 102 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 205 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 96.67% White, 0.24% African American, 2.38% Native American, and 0.71% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.24% of the population. There were 165 households, out of which 27.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.3% were married couples living together, 6.1% had a female householder with no spouse present, and 37.6% were non-families. 32.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 16.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.30 and the average family size was 2.94. In the town, the population was spread out, with 20.0% under the age of 18, 8.1% from 18 to 24, 21.0% from 25 to 44, 21.7% from 45 to 64, and 29.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 46 years. For every 100 females, there were 85.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.7 males. The median income for a household in the town was $30,096, and the median income for a family was $34,792. Males had a median income of $22,361 versus $21,500 for females. The per capita income for the town was $17,302. About 11.4% of families and 11.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 12.3% of those under age 18 and 22.2% of those age 65 or over. ==Education==

The school district is Medford Public Schools. Students in Wakita went to school at Wakita Public School K-12 through the 2010–2011 school year, after which the school closed due to low enrollment (30 students) and lack of necessary funding. Wakita Schools merged with Medford Public Schools, although many Wakita students also attend Pond Creek-Hunter High School. ==Notable people==

• Virgil A. Richard, retired brigadier general in the United States Army and gay rights activist • Cindy Ross, first female president of Cameron University ==Popular culture==

Wakita was the setting of a 1984 television commercial about DuPont's subsidiary Conoco using seismograph technology to search for oil. It was aired during the 1984 World Series. The voice over starts with, "Nothing much changes in Wakita, Oklahoma." Wakita was featured in the 1996 blockbuster film Twister starring Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton in which Wakita was destroyed by an F4 tornado that was part of a storm system later spawning an F5 tornado. False fronts were built onto the existing store fronts for some shots and then were removed and replaced with rubble in the streets after the tornadic storm hit and the rest of the building was removed using CGI. Some original buildings were demolished and never replaced, with some of the bricks from the demolished buildings used to construct Twister Park. The Twister Museum, dedicated to movie memorabilia from Twister, opened a few months before the movie was released and remains a town attraction. In 2021, Jane Remover released her debut album "Frailty", which features a Google Street View screenshot of a house in Wakita as the cover. There's also yearly events in Wakita featuring tornado interceptors such as the SRV Dominator and the Tornado Intercept Vehicle, along with many storm chasers and their chasing vehicles. ==References==