Midwest City Oklahoma History & Facts

Midwest City is a city in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, United States, and a part of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area. As of the 2010 census, the population was 54,371, making it the eighth largest city in the state.

The city was developed in response to talk of an air field being located nearby and named for the Tinker Air Force Base's original designation as the Midwest Air Depot. The city suffered damage during two tornadoes, the first in May 1999 and the second on May 8, 2003.

W.P. "Bill" Atkinson bought land in the area that would become Midwest City after hearing speculation that an air field was going to be built nearby. The city, which was incorporated on March 11, 1943, was named for the air field's original designation as the Midwest Air Depot. When Major General Clarence L. Tinker of Pawhuska, Oklahoma became the first American general killed in World War II (June 7, 1942) near Wake Island, the airfield was renamed in his honor.

Seward Mott, the director of the Federal Housing Administration's Land Planning Division, helped design the city, gaining national print and broadcast attention, and it became a model for postwar community development. The city incorporated the Mishak community of Czech and German immigrants that had formed in what now is the southeast part of the city.

In 1947, returning veteran Nicholas Harroz opened Nick's Brett Drive Grocery, which later became Crest Discount Foods, which is now one of the largest discount chains in the Oklahoma City metro area. Soon after its opening, Midwest City citizens opted for a charter-council-city manager form of government to better manage their rapid growth.

Midwest City's regional hospital was dedicated October 6, 1962, built with the use of bond money. Voters also approved the creation of a junior college district in 1968. Oscar Rose Junior College opened its doors to students in 1970 and is now known as Rose State College. The Heritage Park Mall opened in 1978 on North Air Depot and was a prime shopping area in the city for several decades. The first Sam's Club was opened in Midwest City on April 7, 1983.

In the early 1970s, the Glenwood Addition subdivision, just north of the TAFB runway, was purchased from individual owners with funds raised in a county-wide bond election after plane crashes in the area killed several civilians and military crewmen. 835 homes were moved and an elementary school was closed down. The former subdivision is fenced off and used as storage and training exercises for TAFB personnel.

Portions of Midwest City particularly northwest of Tinker Air Force Base sustained extreme damage from a violent tornado that swept through the southern and eastern areas of the Oklahoma City Metro on May 3, 1999. While it produced F5 damage in South Oklahoma City, damage in Midwest City was rated high-end F4 (although F5 was considered), with numerous destroyed homes and three fatalities. Another strong tornado struck almost exactly the same area four years later on May 8, 2003.

Famous Peoples From Midwest City Oklahoma

Nina Akamu

(born 1955) is a Japanese-American artist known for her sculpture. She is presently living in Rhinebeck, New York.

Nina Akamu was born in 1955 in Midwest City, Oklahoma. Her father was a career Air Force serviceman so she experienced a peripatetic lifestyle living in Hawaii and East Asia. At the age of 10 her family moved to Japan, where her passion for horseback riding was instilled (which would eventually lead to a passion for sculpting horses).

In 1969 her family was transferred back to the United States, moving to Dover, Delaware, where Akamu graduated high school. She studied with American painter and anatomist, Joseph Sheppard. She found her passion for sculpture in the final year of her education and received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 1977.

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