Woods County, Oklahoma: History
The Burnham site in Woods County is a pre-Clovis site, that is, an archaeological site dating before 11,000 years ago.
The region of Woods County, Oklahoma, was home to the Antelope Creek Phase of Southern Plains Villagers, a precontact culture of Native Americans, who are related to the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes.
An early European explorer of the area now contained within Woods County was George C. Sibley, who traveled through in 1811. He visited a salt formation near the present town of Freedom, Oklahoma, then followed the Mountain Fork of the Arkansas River southeastward to the Great Salt Plains. In 1843, Nathan Boone traveled along the Cimarron River.
The area was part of Cherokee Outlet, guaranteed to the Cherokee Nation under the Treaty of New Echota. It later became important for cattle ranching. The Dodge City and Red Fork Trail, a branch of the Chisholm Trail followed the north bank of the Cimarron River en route to Kansas. The U. S. Government acquired the Cherokee Outlet under Congressional Acts in 1889, 1891 and 1893, and divided the area into counties. One of these was designated M County, prior to opening the area for settlement. The Secretary of the Interior designated Alva as the county seat. M County was renamed Woods County by a ballot measure on November 6, 1894. The name was one of three put forth on the ballot, and was the Populists party's submission to honor Samuel Newitt Wood, a Kansas Populist. Despite the name being misspelled on the ballot, the election committee "decided to keep the s for euphony sake". Woods County became part of Oklahoma Territory.
The Constitutional Convention of 1906 created Major County and Alfalfa County from southern and eastern parts of Woods County and added a part of Woodward County to Woods County.