Lois, another acquaintance from the Star Tribune Crossword Corner, asked for Lawton, Oklahoma. The photos are of the Lawton Strip , the Lawton courthouse and federal building, and the entrance to the Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge that is nearby. The refuge has protected unique wildlife habitats since 1901 and is the oldest managed wildlife facility in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service system.

Lawton is a city in and the county seat of Comanche County, Oklahoma, United States.[3] It is the principal city of the Lawton, Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Area. Founded in 1901, Lawton lies in southwestern Oklahoma, near the Wichita Mountains. Lawton is the cultural and commercial center of the area. Lawton is home to large granite deposits as well as cotton fields. Fort Sill, Fort Sill Indian School, and Medicine Park are all nearby. The population was 92,757 at the 2000 census.

The city has a long history. Here is some of it out of the "Old West" and a short note on it after WWII.

Southwest Oklahoma was the home for many Native American tribes due to the natural resources provided by the nearby 60,000-acre (240 km²) outcropping of ancient granite now called the Wichita Mountains, with water, wildlife, vegetation, in abundance. This area is now the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Refuge. Lawton’s history is inextricably tied to Fort Sill, established in 1869 during the hostilities in the Indian Territory.

In 1891 the United States Congress appointed a commission under David H. Jerome to meet with the tribal leaders and come to an agreement allowing white settlement. Under pressure from the commission, Quanah Parker and the other Native American tribal leaders initially agreed to give the government control of the lands for $1.25 per acre. Each tribal member would receive a 160-acre (0.65 km²) allotment, with 400,000 acres (1,600 km²) reserved for grazing land for white cattle ranchers. After years of controversy and legal maneuvering on both sides, President William McKinley issued a proclamation which gave the government control over 2,000,000 acres (8,100 km²) for less than $1 per acre.
Upon completion of a survey, three 320-acre (1.3 km²) sites were designated as the town sites for the county seats for the Kiowa, Caddo, and Comanche Counties. Lawton was the Comanche County site, named for General Henry W. Lawton, who had been quartermaster at Fort Sill and part of the pursuit and capture of Geronimo. The Apache leader was moved with Chiricahua prisoners of war to Fort Sill in 1894, under the direction of Captain H.L. Scott. Geronimo was jailed at the Old Post Guardhouse, and he remained in the area until his death on February 17, 1909. Geronimo was buried in a cemetary at Fort Sill and recently, it was redone by the Indians to give him the type of grave he deserved. However, no photos of it are available on the internet.

Following World War II, Lawton enjoyed rapid and steady population growth. From 1930 to 1940, population increased from 18,055 to 34,757, and by 1960, it reached 61,697. In the 1950s, significant public facilities were built, including the new Lawton High School, the airport, the McMahon Auditorium, the National Guard Armory, and groundbreaking for the Museum of the Great Plains.

Today's Jumble (8/5/08):

NACEP = PECAN; THACC = CATCH; HOIDAR = HAIRDO; FEXPIR = PREFIX

CIRCLED LETTERS = ENCARDOREI

What the groom did when he married the math teacher.

"CARRIED (THE) ONE"

Today is National Waffle Day and Neil Armstrong's birthday. Most important, however, is that it is:

NATIONAL BEER DAY!!!! A BEER-TASTIC Holiday, indeed. Don't get too tipsy.

Other things on this day in history:

642 - Battle of Maserfeld - Penda of Mercia defeats and kills Oswald of Bernicia.
910 - The last major Viking army to raid England is defeated at the Battle of Tettenhall by the allied forces of Mercia and Wessex, led by King Edward and Earl Aethelred.
1100 - Henry I crowned King of England in Westminster Abbey.
1305 - William Wallace, who led Scottish resistance to England, is captured by the English near Glasgow and transported to London for trial and execution.
1388 - Battle of Otterburn, border skirmish between the Scottish and the English in Northern England.
1583 - Sir Humphrey Gilbert establishes first English colony in North America, at what is now St John's, Newfoundland.
1620 - The Mayflower departs Southampton, England on first attempt to reach North America.
1689 - 1,500 Iroquois attack village of Lachine, in New France.
1716 - Battle of Petrovaradin
1735 - Freedom of the press: New York Weekly Journal writer John Peter Zenger is acquitted of seditious libel against the royal governor of New York, on the basis that what he published was true.
1763 - Pontiac's War: Battle of Bushy Run - British forces led by Henry Bouquet defeat Chief Pontiac's Indians at Bushy Run.
1772 - The First Partition of Poland begins.
1812 - War of 1812: Tecumseh's Indian force ambushes Thomas Van Horne's 200 Americans at Brownstone Creek, causing them to flee and retreat.
1858 - Cyrus West Field and others complete the first transatlantic telegraph cable after several unsuccessful attempts. It operated for less than a month.
1860 - Carl IV of Sweden-Norway is crowned king of Norway, in Trondheim.
1861 - American Civil War: In order to help pay for the war effort, the United States government issues the first income tax as part of the Revenue Act of 1861 (3% of all incomes over US $800; rescinded in 1872).
1861 - The United States Army abolished flogging.
1862 - American Civil War: Battle of Baton Rouge - Along the Mississippi River near Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Confederate troops drive Union forces back into the city.
1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Mobile Bay begins - At Mobile Bay near Mobile, Alabama, Admiral David Farragut leads a Union flotilla through Confederate defenses and seals one of the last major Southern ports.
1870 - Franco-Prussian War: The Battle of Spicheren is fought, resulting in a Prussian victory.
1874 - Japan launches its postal savings system, modeled after a similar system in England.
1882 - Standard Oil of New Jersey is established.
1882 - Martial law is enacted in Japan.
1884 - The cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty is laid on Bedloe's Island in New York Harbor.
1888 - Bertha Benz drives from Mannheim to Pforzheim in the first long distance automobile trip.
1901 - Peter O'Connor sets the first IAAF recognised long jump world record of 24ft 11¾ins. The record will stand for 20 years.
1912 - Japan's first taxicab service begins in Ginza, Tokyo.
1914 - In Cleveland, Ohio, the first electric traffic light is installed.
1925 - Plaid Cymru is formed with the aim of disseminating knowledge of the Welsh language, which is in danger of dying out.
1940 - World War II : Latvia is annexed by the Soviet Union.
1943 - World War II: During the Battle of Troina, at around 11 A.M, Mount Etna erupted sending much ash and lava miles into the sky.
1944 - World War II: Possibly the biggest prison breakout in history occurs as 545 Japanese POWs attempt to escape outside the town of Cowra, NSW, Australia.
1944 - Holocaust: Polish insurgents liberate a German labor camp in Warsaw, freeing 348 Jewish prisoners.
1949 - In Ecuador an earthquake destroys 50 towns and kills more than 6000.
1957 - American Bandstand, a show dedicated to the teenage "baby-boomers" by playing the songs and showing popular dances of the time, debuts on the ABC television network.
1960 - Burkina Faso, then known as "Upper Volta", becomes independent from France.
1962 - Nelson Mandela is jailed. He would not be released until 1990.
1963 - United States, United Kingdom, and Soviet Union sign a nuclear test ban treaty.
1964 - Vietnam War: Operation Pierce Arrow - American aircraft from carriers USS Ticonderoga and USS Constellation bomb North Vietnam in retaliation for strikes attacked U.S. destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin.
1969 - Mariner program: Mariner 7 makes its closest fly-by of Mars (3,524 kilometers).
1974 - Vietnam War: The U.S. Congress places a $1 billion dollar limit on military aid to South Vietnam.
1979 - In Afghanistan, Maoists undertake an attempted military uprising.
1981 - Ronald Reagan fires 11,359 striking air-traffic controllers who ignored his order for them to return to work.
1989 - General elections are held in Nicaragua, Sandinista Front wins the majority.
1995 - The city of Knin, a significant Serb stronghold, is captured by Croatian forces during Operation Storm. The date is celebrated as the day of victory (Victory and Homeland Thanksgiving Day) in Croatia.
2003 - A car bomb explodes in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta outside the Marriott Hotel killing 12 and injuring 150.