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Ada, Oklahoma

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Ada, Oklahoma
City
Pontotoc County Courthouse in Ada
Pontotoc County Courthouse in Ada
Nicknames: 
A-Town motto =
Location in the state of Oklahoma
Location in the state of Oklahoma
CountryUnited States
StateOklahoma
CountyPontotoc
Post Office1891
Government
 • TypeCity Council
 • MayorBarbara Young
Area
 • Total
15.8 sq mi (40.8 km2)
 • Land15.7 sq mi (40.7 km2)
 • Water.1 sq mi (.2 km2)  0%
Elevation
1,010 ft (308 m)
Population
 (2010)
 • Total
16,810
 • Density1,077.2/sq mi (417.1/km2)
 • Demonym
Adan
Time zoneUTC-6 (CST)
 • Summer (DST)UTC-5 (CDT)
ZIP codes
74820-74821
Area code580
FIPS code40-00200Template:GR
GNIS feature ID1089523Template:GR
WebsiteCity of Ada

Ada is a city in and the county seat of Pontotoc County, Oklahoma.Template:GR The population was 16,810 at the 2010 census.

Ada is an Oklahoma Main Street City, an Oklahoma Certified City, a Tree City USA member, and a National Weather Service StormReady Community.[1]

The city was named after the daughter of an early settler[2] and was incorporated in 1901.[1] Ada is home to East Central University.

History

In the late 1880s, the Daggs family (by way of Texas) became the first family to settle what is now known as Ada, which was originally known as Daggs Prairie. In April 1889, Jeff Reed (a native Texan, and relative of the Daggs family) was appointed to carry the mail from Stonewall to Center (which was later combined with Pickett), two small communities in the Indian Territory. With his family and his stock, he sought a place for a home on a prairie midway between the two points, where he constructed a log house and started Reed's Store. Other settlers soon built homes nearby. In 1891, a post office was established and named after Reed's oldest daughter, Ada.[2] Ada was incorporated as a city in 1901[1] and grew rapidly with the arrival of the St. Louis and San Francisco Railway line.[3]

On April 19, 1909, an organized mob hanged four men set to be tried for the murder of a former U.S. marshal and member of the local freemason lodge.[4] The town had a population of about 5,000 at the time, and 38 murders a year at the time of the lynching.[4] The Daily Ardmoreite reported that the four lynched men were "one of the bloodiest band of murderers in the state of Oklahoma and an organization of professional assassins, that for a record of blood crimes, probably has no equal in the annals of criminal history in the entire southwest."[5]

National Register of Historic Places

The following sites in Ada are listed on the National Register of Historic Places:[6]

Geography

Ada is located in the rolling hills of southeastern Oklahoma; its geographic coordinates are 34°45′49″N 96°40′6″W / 34.76361°N 96.66833°W / 34.76361; -96.66833 (34.763661, -96.668214)Template:GR. Ada is 88 miles (142 km) from Oklahoma City, 122 miles (196 km) from Tulsa, and 133 miles (214 km) from Dallas, Texas.[1]

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 15.8 square miles (40.9 km2), of which 15.7 square miles (40.7 km2) is land and 0.1 square miles (0.3 km2) (0.44%) is water.

Climate

Climate data for Ada, Oklahoma
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °F (°C) 84
(29) 		90
(32) 		96
(36) 		99
(37) 		100
(38) 		106
(41) 		109
(43) 		116
(47) 		109
(43) 		98
(37) 		88
(31) 		85
(29) 		116
(47)
Mean daily maximum °F (°C) 51
(11) 		56
(13) 		65
(18) 		75
(24) 		80
(27) 		89
(32) 		94
(34) 		94
(34) 		87
(31) 		76
(24) 		64
(18) 		54
(12) 		74
(23)
Mean daily minimum °F (°C) 30
(−1) 		34
(1) 		41
(5) 		50
(10) 		59
(15) 		67
(19) 		71
(22) 		70
(21) 		63
(17) 		52
(11) 		40
(4) 		33
(1) 		51
(11)
Record low °F (°C) −10
(−23) 		1
(−17) 		3
(−16) 		23
(−5) 		34
(1) 		42
(6) 		55
(13) 		50
(10) 		34
(1) 		19
(−7) 		11
(−12) 		— −10
(−23)
Average precipitation inches (mm) 2.1
(53) 		2.1
(53) 		2.7
(69) 		4
(100) 		5.9
(150) 		4.4
(110) 		2.8
(71) 		3.2
(81) 		3.4
(86) 		3.6
(91) 		2.4
(61) 		2.3
(58) 		38.8
(990)
Average snowfall inches (cm) 2.7
(6.9) 		1.3
(3.3) 		0.8
(2.0) 		0
(0) 		0
(0) 		0
(0) 		0
(0) 		0
(0) 		0
(0) 		0
(0) 		0
(0) 		0.6
(1.5) 		5.4
(14)
Source: Weatherbase.com [7]



Demographics

Picture taken on Broadway of the former Stout family residence with one of the city's water towers behind it.

As of the 2006 census,Template:GR Ada's 16,008 residents consisted of 6,697 households and 3,803 families. The population density was 999.3 people per square mile (385.9/km²). The 7,472 housing units were dispersed at an average density of 475.9 per square mile (183.8/km²). Ada's 2006 racial makeup was 73.81% White, 3.54% African American, 15.10% Native American, 0.83% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.89% from other races, and 5.81% from two or more races. Hispanics or Latinos of any race were 2.89% of the population.

Of Ada's 6,697 households, 25.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.6% were married couples living together, 12.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 43.2% were non-families. The 15.8% of those 65 years or older living alone made up a substantial portion of the 37.1% single-person households. Average household size was 2.20 persons; average family size was 2.91.

The age breakdown in 2006 was 22.3% under the age of 18, 17.5% from 18 to 24, 24.4% from 25 to 44, 18.9% from 45 to 64, and 17.0% aged 65 or older. The median age was 33 years. The disparity between the number of males and the number of females seems to be decreasing: for every 100 females aged 18 or over, there were only 84.5 males, but when all females and males were taken into account, there were 100 females for every 88.4 males.

Median household income was $22,977, while median family income was $31,805. Males had a median income of $25,223 versus $17,688 for females. Ada's per capita income was $14,666. Some 14.8% of families and 21.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 27.8% of those under 18 and 11.4% of those 65 or over.

Economy

The economy of Ada is incredibly diversified for a small town. In the mid and late 20th century, the town was a large manufacturing center, producing products such as jeans for Wrangler, auto parts, cement and concrete, plastic-wear, and other products. Since the start of the 21st century, however, most large manufacturing centers have left or have downsized considerably.

In the 1970s, the Chickasaw Nation moved its headquarters to Ada. Revenues for the Nation were over 12 billion dollars in 2011, most of which is funneled through Ada.[8] Machspeed Technologies, one of the largest producers and sellers of tablet PCs and media players in the United States is headquartered in Ada. The Robert S. Kerr Environmental Research Center, a large water research lab staffed by the Environmental Protection Agency, is located just outside the city. LegalShield, formally Pre-Paid Legal, is the largest provider of pre-paid legal services in the United States and is headquartered in the city. Oil and Natural Gas are still very much a part of the regional economy, but no large companies that provide significant employment exist in the city.

The largest employers in the region are the following[9] :

  • Ada City Schools
  • Chickasaw Nation
  • Chickasaw Enterprises
  • East Central University
  • Pontotoc County Technology Center
  • Solo Cup
  • Flex-N-Gate (Auto Parts Manufacturing)
  • Holcim Inc. (Portland Cement)
  • LegalShield
  • Walmart
  • Kerr Lab
  • Edge Tech Corp (MachSpeed Technologies)
  • Valley View Regional Hospital
  • City of Ada
  • Interactive Response Technologies (IRT Call Center for T-Mobile)

Education

ECU's Honor Plaza

Higher education

East Central University, located in Ada, is a public four-year institution that has been in operation since 1909. ECU serves roughly 4,500 students and is perhaps best known internationally for its cartography program, as only a few such programs exist. ECU is also home to an Environmental Health Science Program, one of only 30 programs nationally accredited by the National Environmental Health Science and Protection Accreditation Council (http://www.ehacoffice.org/).

Primary and secondary

Main article: Ada Independent School District

Ada Public Schools has six primary and secondary schools.

  • Glenwood Early Childhood Center
  • Hayes Grade Center
  • Washington Grade Center
  • Willard Grade Center
  • Ada Junior High School
  • Ada High School

Technical school

Pontotoc Technology Center (formerly Pontotoc Area Vo-Tech) is located in Ada.

Debbie Carter and Denice Haraway murders

In 2006, a book by author John Grisham brought Ada into the national spotlight related to the false convictions and imprisonment of two individuals for the murder of Debra Sue "Debbie" Carter and two individuals convicted of the murder of Denice Haraway that the city officials were under pressure to solve. The cases were researched by a New York reporter and were the subject of the book The Dreams of Ada and eventually written about in The Innocent Man, Grisham's first non-fiction book. Accounts from both books suggest major flaws, irregularities, and outright miscarriages of justice including forced and made-up confessions by the police and prosecutors. Prosecutor Bill Peterson has self-published his disagreements with Grisham's version of events.[10][11][12]

Notable people

References

  1. ^ a b c d About Ada, City of Ada, OK (accessed February 23, 2007).
  2. ^ a b History of Ada, City of Ada, OK (accessed February 23, 2007).
  3. ^ Floyd, Billie Fathree and Alberta Johnson Blackburn. "Ada". Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture. Retrieved 2009-10-7.
  4. ^ a b "Ada, Oklahoma Lynching, 1909" at Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon (accessed April 1, 2010)
  5. ^ The Daily Ardmoreite. Ardmore, Oklahoma. Monday, 19 April 1909 www.oklahomahistory.net (accessed January 1, 2008).
  6. ^ "Pontotoc County, OK". Wikipedia. Archived from the original on 19 March 2007. Retrieved 2007-02-28. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  7. ^ "Historical Weather for Ada, Oklahoma, United States".
  8. ^ "Financial Reports of the Chickasaw". Retrieved 28 September 2012.
  9. ^ "Southern WIA Economic Profile" (PDF). 2011. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  10. ^ Frontline: burden of innocence (accessed November 13, 2008)
  11. ^ The Innocence Project (accessed November 13, 2008).
  12. ^ Grisham's Folly (accessed November 13, 2008).
  13. ^ "Nick Blackburn Stats". Baseball Almanac. Retrieved December 10, 2012.
  14. ^ "Harry Brecheen Stats". Baseball Almanac. Retrieved December 10, 2012.
  15. ^ Dan Cody - Baltimore Ravens, Yahoo! Sports (accessed May 21, 2007).
  16. ^ "Josh Fields Stats". Baseball Almanac. {{cite web}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Missing or empty |url= (help); Unknown parameter |= ignored (help)
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