Stillwater, Oklahoma
Stillwater is the tenth-largest city in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. It is the county seat of Payne County, Oklahoma. It is located in north-central Oklahoma at the intersection of U.S. Route 177 and State Highway 51. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 48,394. The Stillwater Micropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 78,399 according to the 2012 census estimate. Stillwater was part of the first Oklahoma Land Run held on April 22, 1889, when the Unassigned Lands were opened for settlement and became the core of the new Oklahoma Territory. The city charter was adopted on August 24, 1889,[5] and operates under a council-manager government system.
Stillwater has a diverse economy with a foundation in aerospace, agribusiness, biotechnology, optoelectronics, printing and publishing, and software and standard manufacturing. Stillwater is home to the main campus of Oklahoma State University (the city's largest employer) as well as Northern Oklahoma College – Stillwater, Meridian Technology Center, and the Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education. The city is also home to the National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum.
Media[edit]
Stillwater's newspaper of record is the NewsPress, owned by the Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc.[74] The community is also served by the weekly Stillwater Journal, owned and published by David and Lisa Sasser.[75] The Daily O'Collegian has been published since 1895 as a daily paper by Oklahoma State University and is an affiliate of the College Media Network.
Stillwater is also home to several radio stations, including Stillwater Radio that broadcasts on four stations: KSPI 780 AM, 80s, 90s and 2000s Rock; KSPI 94.3 FM, 80s, 90s and 2000s Rock; KVRO 101.1 FM, classic hits and home of Stillwater High School sports; KGFY 105.5 FM, country music and the home of Perkins-Tryon High School sports (in nearby Perkins, OK), and OSU women's basketball, soccer, and softball; and KSPI 93.7 FM, adult contemporary, and the home of OSU football, baseball, men's basketball, and wrestling.[76] KOSU 91.7 FM is owned by Oklahoma State University and is a National Public Radio station.[77]
White Peacock Publishing publishes Stillwater Living Magazine, a full-color monthly magazine.[78] Stillwater Scene, published by Red Productions, is a monthly print and online magazine that focuses on local entertainment.[79]
Stillwater TV is a government-access television station airing on Suddenlink Communications’s channel 14. It broadcasts programming provided by the City of Stillwater, including live and rebroadcasts of Stillwater City Council and Planning Commission meetings.[80]
Stillwater citizens were featured in the news for threatening fellow citizens attempting to enforce public safety regulations related to COVID-19 "just three hours [after] the rule going into effect".[81]
The City of Stillwater Parks and Recreation Department manages more than 5,000 acres (20 km2) of parkland, including five ball complexes, ten tennis courts, two disc golf courses, four lakes, one swimming pool, 14 playgrounds, one skate and bmx bike ramp, special services centers, including the Multi Arts Center, Senior Activity Center, Community Center, Armory Gymnasium and Lakeside Golf Course.
Lake McMurtry, owned by the City of Stillwater, offers hiking and mountain-bike trails, back-to-nature camping and well-stocked reserves for fishing. Its convenience store and bait shop are open seasonal hours.[84]
Carl Blackwell Lake is owned by Oklahoma State University. It offers camping, boat rentals, covered pavilions, and a gift shop.[85]
Stillwater is served by a number of paved and unpaved bicycle and walking trails for non-motorized forms of transit. The Kameoka Trail Corridor includes a three-mile (5 km) loop around Boomer Lake and additional disconnected segments throughout the city.[86] The corridor begins north at Park View Estates and runs along West Boomer Creek toward Airport Road and Boomer Lake Park, circles the lake and cuts south to Stillwater High School, crosses McElroy and continues to Hall of Fame between Main and Perkins and crosses through Hoyt Grove Park.[86]
Other multi-use trails include an asphalt trail through Couch Park, a dirt nature trail around Sanborn Lake, bike and pedestrian trails at Lake McMurtry, and a one-mile (1.6 km) gravel screenings loop at the Oklahoma Technology & Research Park.[86]
Four golf courses are located in Stillwater:[87]
Transportation[edit]
Major highways[edit]
Stillwater has two highways running through it: Oklahoma State Highway 51, or 6th Avenue, runs east and west; and US-177, or Perkins Road, runs north and south. The city is also served by a 7.2-mile (11.6 km) spur that connects US-177 to the Cimarron Turnpike.
Stillwater has been sister city to Kameoka since 1985. The State of Oklahoma and Kyoto Prefecture signed a sister state agreement in 1985 through the auspices of the governor's office. Kameoka requested a sister city in Oklahoma that was about one hour from the capital, agriculturally based, and home to a university. Stillwater was a perfect match. In 1985, the first delegation from Kameoka visited Stillwater, and in November of that same year a Stillwater delegation went to Kameoka. There, Mayors Calvin J. Anthony and Yoshihisa Taniguchi signed the Sister City Affiliation Agreement that officially established the sister cities relationship between the two cities.
Since 1989, the Stillwater Middle School and Taisei Junior High School in Kameoka have participated in a sister school relationship, which features an active teacher-student exchange program. In 2016, the Stillwater High School based string quintet, Penta-Strings, played for the during the 30-year visit of the Kameoka delegation.[93]
In popular culture[edit]
Stillwater was featured in the CW television show Supernatural in Season 13, Episode 12 "Various & Sundry Villains." Protagonists Sam and Dean Winchester track a pair of witches to the city to try and recover a valuable spell book.[95]
In the 2021 film Stillwater Matt Damon plays an oil rig worker from Oklahoma who goes to visit his daughter in prison in Marseilles, France in the hope to bring her back home to Stillwater.[96]
