The Oklahoma panhandle is a curious part of state. Previously known as No Man’s Land, the approximately 6,000 square miles were added to Oklahoma upon statehood in 1907.
“The Oklahoma panhandle is a product of the reduction of the boundaries of the Republic of Texas following its admission to the Union, as the Missouri Compromise and later the Compromise of 1850 mandated any territory above the 36’30 line to be ‘free,’” says Matthew Pearce, Ph.D., state historian with the Oklahoma Historical Society. “About a decade later, the creation of Kansas Territory in 1854 left a tiny sliver of land to the south between Kansas and Texas,” he continues.
The 36’30 refers to a line established within the Missouri Compromise that dictated where slavery was permitted. South of the line permitted slavery, while north of the line prohibited it.
“One could argue that slavery had almost everything to do with the creation of what became the Oklahoma panhandle, starting with the debate over the boundaries of Texas upon its admission to the Union,” says Pearce. The Compromise made Texas relinquish any claims north of the line while also establishing boundaries of New Mexico Territory west of the panhandle.
“The Kansas-Nebraska Act established what ultimately became the panhandle’s northern boundary. Upon gaining statehood in 1861, Kansas designated its western boundary as the 102nd meridian and ceded any of its territorial claims west of that line, which ultimately became part of Colorado,” he continues. “All of this helps explain why the panhandle is bordered by four states.”
With the Organic Act of 1890, which organized Oklahoma Territory, the panhandle was formally placed within the territory.
“The panhandle originally comprised one county, Beaver County. Upon statehood, the panhandle was divided into three counties: Cimarron, Texas and Beaver,” says Pearce.
Because of the almost disconnected nature of the panhandle, the area has developed a distinct identity from the rest of the state.
“Historically the panhandle was cut off from the rest of Oklahoma, and the region remains an afterthought for many in Oklahoma even today,” says Pearce. “Economic development in the region occurred later than the rest of the state and the population in the panhandle was relatively small, with about 3,000 people in 1890.” The first railroad didn’t arrive until 1901, nearly thirty years after other areas in the state, and even now, Cimarron County has the smallest population of any county in Oklahoma.
“As a result, the area has developed a sort of ‘frontier’ identity not all that different from the nearby Texas panhandle,” continues Pearce. “There are a lot of similarities culturally, socially and economically between the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles. For these reasons, the historian Richard Lowitt described the panhandle as ‘America’s Outback.’”
