Oklahoma City was founded during the Land Run of 1889 and grew to a population of over 10,000 within hours of its founding. By the time Oklahoma was admitted to the Union in 1907, the city had surpassed Guthrie, the territorial capital, as the new state's population center and commercial hub. Soon after, the capital was moved from Guthrie to Oklahoma City.

It is known as the "The Sooner State" in reference to the settlers who staked their claims on land before the official opening of lands in the western Oklahoma Territory. These Sooners would hide in ditches at night and suddenly appear to stake their claim after the land run started, hours ahead of legal settlers.

Most of the state lies in an area known as Tornado Alley, and the name is no joke. On average, about 60 tornadoes strike Oklahoma each year--one of the highest rates in the world.

The state's name is derived from the Choctaw words okla and humma, meaning "red people".

Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory were merged into the State of Oklahoma when it became the 46th state to enter the union on November 16, 1907.

Belle Starr was an American outlaw associated with Jesse James and the Younger brothers. She gained national notoriety after she was fatally shot in 1889 while riding home from a neighbor's house in Eufaula, Oklahoma. According to legend, she was shot with her own double barrel shotgun. Suspects included her new husband and both of her children, but the case was never solved.

The National Weather Center, located in Norman, houses a unique collection of university, state, federal, and private sector organizations that work together to improve the understanding of events related to the Earth's atmosphere.

The Tulsa race massacre took place on May 31 and June 1, 1921, when mobs of white residents, many of them deputized and given weapons by city officials, attacked and killed black residents, burning homes and businesses of the Greenwood District in Tulsa. The attack, carried out on the ground and from private aircraft, destroyed more than 35 square blocks of the district, at that time the wealthiest black community in the United States, known as "Black Wall Street".

The American buffalo was adopted as the state animal in 1972. The resolution states, "the magnificent animal was native to both the grasslands and woodlands of what is now Oklahoma and was significant in the cultures and ceremonies of many of the Indian tribes who lived in Oklahoma and have passed along their heritage to modern-day Oklahomans."

Every year in Beaver, Oklahoma, the Official World Championship Cow Chip Throwing Contest determines just who can chuck a dried cow turd the furthest. Contestants can enter one of four divisions: Men's Open, Women's Open, Teams (4 people) and VIP. The tradition began in the 1970s as a way to pay homage to Oklahoma's early settlers, who would trade wagonloads of cow chips (which were used as cooking fuel) for for food and supplies.