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Kiowa County was organized in 1901 following the opening of the Kiowa-Comanche-Apache, Caddo-Wichita reservations to non-Indian settlement. This opening attracted more than 165,000 hopeful pioneers, and was the only area of Oklahoma settled by lottery.
Named after the Kiowa Indians that occupied the area in the pre-settlement years, Kiowa County was once the ideal crossing for cattle herded up the Great Western Cattle Trail from Texas to the shipping yards in Kansas, witnessing as much cattle movement as the famous Chisholm Trail to the east. Community names like Gotebo (Kau-Tau-Bone, sub chief of the Kiowa) and Lone Wolf (Kiowa Indian Chief) still carry the Indian influence into present.

County seat is Hobart (formerly Speed, named changed July 1909), named for Garrett A. Hobart of New Jersey, vice president of the United States.

Town name Hardin between 1889 - 1901

Town name Speed, named for Horace Speed, US attorney for Oklahoma Territory, between 1901 - 1909

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Thanks To Ethel Taylor who maintained this site 1997-2002. Copyright 2019 C. Sharbrough