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Oklahoma City is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, the city ranks 31st among United States cities in population. The city's estimated population as of 2008 was 551,789, with an estimated metro-area population of 1,206,142. In 2008, the Oklahoma City-Shawnee Combined Statistical Area had a population of 1,275,758 residents.
Besides Oklahoma County, the city limits extend into Canadian, Cleveland, and Pottawatomie counties. The city ranks as the seventh-largest city in the United States by land area which includes consolidated city-counties; it is the largest city in the United States by land area whose government is not consolidated with that of a county (or, in the case of Alaska, a borough). Oklahoma City is an important livestock market, featuring one of the top livestock markets in the world. Oil is a major product of the Oklahoma City economy, as the city is situated in the middle of an oil field, with oil derricks even on the capitol grounds; furthermore, several prominent natural gas companies are headquartered in Oklahoma City. The city has varied light and heavy industries, and Tinker Air Force Base is also a vital source of employment.
The city was founded during the Land Run of 1889. In 1995, the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City was bombed by Timothy McVeigh. With the Oklahoma City bombing, which resulted in 168 deaths, McVeigh committed the most destructive act of domestic terrorism in United States history, and the most destructive act of terrorism on American soil prior to the September 11, 2001 attacks.
One of the more prominent landmarks downtown is the Crystal Bridge at the Myriad Botanical Gardens, a large downtown urban park. Designed by I. M. Pei, the Crystal Bridge is a tropical conservatory in the area. The park has an amphitheater, known as the Water Stage. In 2007, following a renovation of the stage, Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park relocated to the Myriad Gardens. There is also a lake in the middle of the park inhabited by large Japanese Koi replete with waterfalls and fountains.
The Oklahoma City Zoological Park is home to numerous natural habitats, WPA era architecture and landscaping, and hosts major touring concerts during the summer at its amphitheater. Oklahoma City also has two amusement parks, Frontier City theme park and White Water Bay water park. Frontier City is an 'Old West' themed amusement park. The park also features a recreation of a western gunfight at the 'OK Corral' and many shops that line the "Western" town's main street. Frontier City also hosts a national concert circuit at its amphitheater during the summer.
Walking trails line Lake Hefner and Lake Overholser in the northwest part of the city and downtown at the canal and the Oklahoma River. Part of the east shore of Lake Hefner has been developed into upscale offices and restaurants, but the majority of the area around the lake is taken up by parks and trails, including a new leashless dog park and the postwar era Stars and Stripes Park. Lake Stanley Draper is the city's largest and most remote lake.
Other Oklahoma City parks include Martin Park Nature Center and Will Rogers Gardens.
The Donald W. Reynolds Visual Arts Center is the new downtown home for the Oklahoma City Museum of Art. The museum features visiting exhibits, original selections from its own collection, a theater showing a variety of foreign, independent, and classic films each week, and a restaurant. OKCMOA is also home to the most comprehensive collection of Chihuly glass in the world including the fifty-five foot Eleanor Blake Kirkpatrick Memorial Tower in the Museum's atrium. The newly renovated art deco Civic Center Music Hall has performances from ballet and opera to traveling Broadway shows and concerts. Stage Center for the Performing Arts is home to many of the city's top theater companies. The building that houses Stage Center, designed by John Johansen is a modernist architectural landmark, with the original model displayed in MOMA in New York City.
Other theaters include the Lyric Theatre, Jewel Box Theatre, the Kirkpatrick Auditorium, the Poteet Theatre and the 488-seat Petree Recital Hall, at the Oklahoma City University campus. The university also opened the Wanda L Bass School of Music and auditorium in April 2006.
The Science Museum Oklahoma (formerly Kirkpatrick Science and Air Space Museum at Omniplex) houses exhibits on science, aviation, and an IMAX theater. The museum houses the International Photography Hall of Fame (IPHF) that exhibits photographs and artifacts from a large collection of cameras and other artifacts preserving the history of photography. IPHF honors those who have made significant contributions to the art and/or science of photography.
The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum has galleries of western art and is home to the Hall of Great Western Performers. In contrast, the city will also be the home to The American Indian Cultural Center and Museum that is under construction in 2009, on the South side of Interest 40, Southeast from Bricktown.
The Oklahoma City National Memorial in the northern part of Oklahoma City's downtown was created and the inscription on its eastern gate says, "to honor the victims, survivors, rescuers, and all who were changed forever on April 19, 1995". The outdoor Symbolic Memorial can be visited 24 hours a day for free, and the adjacent Memorial Museum, located in the former Journal Record building damaged by the bombing, can be entered for a small fee. The site is also home to the National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism, a non partisan, non profit thinktank devoted to the prevention of terrorism.
The Oklahoma City Museum of Art is a museum located in the Donald W. Reynolds Visual Arts Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The museum features visiting exhibits; original selections from its own collection; a theater showing a variety of foreign, independent, and classic films each week; and a restaurant. OKCMOA is also home to the most comprehensive collection of Chihuly glass in the world including the fifty-five foot Eleanor Blake Kirkpatrick Memorial Tower in the Museum's atrium.
The Oklahoma City National Memorial is the largest memorial of its kind in the United States. It honors the victims, survivors, rescuers, and all who were changed by the Oklahoma City bombing on April 19, 1995. The memorial is located in downtown Oklahoma City on the former site of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, which was destroyed in the 1995 bombing. This building was located on NW 5th street between N. Robinson Avenue and N. Harvey Avenue.
The National Memorial was established on October 9, 1997, through the signing of the Oklahoma City National Memorial Act of 1997, by President Bill Clinton, and, as with all National Park Service historic areas, was administratively listed on the National Register of Historic Places the same day. The memorial is administered by Oklahoma City National Memorial Foundation, with the National Park Service maintaining a presence at the memorial for interpretation purposes.
The National Memorial Museum and the Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism are the two components which are housed in the old Journal Record Building on the north side of the memorial grounds.
The memorial was formally dedicated on April 19, 2000 - the fifth anniversary of the bombing; the museum was dedicated the following year on February 19.
