Business View Magazine | November 2020

305 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE NOVEMBER 2020 CHICKASHA, OKLAHOMA C hickasha, Oklahoma started as an early Trading Post at the river crossing on the Washita River and has evolved over the decades into a dynamic economic hub of trade, industry, and educational excellence. Not to mention a charming, historic place to call home. Located a mere 42 miles southwest of Oklahoma City via Interstate 44 (the H. E. Bailey Turnpike), the current city of Chickasha thrives as the county seat of Grady County, with an estimated population in the neighborhood of 17,000 and about a million people within a 45-minute drive. The city proudly embraces its Native American heritage. “Chickasha” is the Choctaw word for Chickasaw– an indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands, now the federally- recognized Chickasaw Nation. Chickasha was founded in 1892, when the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway built a track through Indian Territory. At that time, the community was located in Pontotoc County, Chickasaw Nation. One of its earliest industrial plants was the Chickasha Cotton Oil Company that opened UNBRIDLED OPPORTUNITY