Clinton

Clinton, city, Custer county, west-central Oklahoma, U.S., on the Washita River. It was founded in 1903 at Washita Junction after a protracted dispute over the right to purchase Indian land and was named for Judge Clinton Irwin, who had been instrumental in the city’s founding.

A processing and shipping point and retail centre for the surrounding agricultural (livestock, poultry, and grain) area, the city also has light industries, including cotton ginning and the manufacture of precision instruments, farm machinery, and draperies. The area was a proving ground for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Upstream Flood Control Program. Clinton was the home of the country’s first Teen Town organization (established 1940 to provide recreation for teenagers). It is the site of the Clinton Indian Hospital (a facility of the Indian Health Service), the Oklahoma Route 66 Museum (1993), and the Mohawk Lodge Indian Store, which features artifacts from the turn of the 20th century and Indian arts and crafts supplies. The Washita National Wildlife Refuge is northeast of the city. Inc. 1909. Pop. (2000) 8,833; (2010) 9,033.