Medford is a city in and the county seat of Grant County, Oklahoma, United States. As of the 2020 census, Medford had a population of 932.
History
The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture states only that the town name was for Medford, Massachusetts, which it says was the home town of a railroad official.
Before the opening of the Cherokee Outlet to non-Indian settlement on September 16, 1893, the Chicago, Kansas and Nebraska Railway (later the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad) built a line from southern Kansas that passed through the future Medford townsite in a north–south direction. A post office was established October 31, 1893. The townsfolk voted to incorporate on March 10, 1894. In 1897 the Gulf Railroad (later the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway) built a line that passed through Medford from northwest to southeast. On July 11, the evacuation zone was decreased to one mile around the plant.
Geography
Medford is situated at the intersection of U.S. Highway 81 (Chisholm Trail Highway) and State Highway 11.
There were 403 households in Medford, of which 28.3% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 41.4% were married-couple households, 23.8% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 29.3% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 36.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 20.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
! Race !! Percent
|-
| White || 84.7%
|-
| Black or African American || 1.2%
|-
| American Indian and Alaska Native || 3.5%
|-
| Asian || 0.4%
|-
| Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander || 0%
|-
| Some other race || 3.3%
|-
| Two or more races || 6.9%
|-
| Hispanic or Latino (of any race) || 7.8%
|}
2000 census
As of the 2000 census, there were 1,172 people, 480 households, and 304 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 591 housing units at an average density of .
Notable people
- James Kilian, professional football player
- Dennis Reimer, U.S. Army general and former Army Chief of Staff
- Apollo Soucek (1897–1955), test pilot and vice admiral in the U.S. Navy