LAWTON

city, seat (1907) of Comanche county, southwestern Oklahoma, U.S., on the Cache Creek. Originally part of the Choctaw-Chickasaw lands in the Indian Territory, the area was settled in 1869 by the Kiowa and Comanche Indians; Fort Sill was established to control the Indians. A settlement near the fort was organized as a city in 1901 and was named for General Henry W. Lawton, sent to capture the Apache leader Geronimo. Indian lands were then opened to auction, and more than 25,000 white settlers came to participate. Lawton is in an area of farms, grazing lands, limestone and granite quarries, and oil wells. It is the site of Cameron University (1908). Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge is in the vicinity. The huge Fort Sill Military Reservation is 4 miles (6 km) north. Pop. (1990) city, 80,561; Lawton MSA, 111,486; (1994 est.) city, 86,078; (1995 est.) Lawton MSA, 115,672.