Nowata

Formed November 16, 1907 (59^th county)

Nowata County (9,322), Nowata (3,513)

The red brick and masonry Late Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries structure was built in 1912. J. W. Roberts is the courthouse designer.  The courthouse is located on Maple Avenue near Delaware Street one block north of United States Highway 60.  An Annex is across the street.  An earlier courthouse existed in Nowata but no date can be associated with its building.  The county was organized on November 16, 1907 as the 59^th county with Nowata as the only county seat.  The Nowata County and city names came from the Delaware Native American word “Noweta” for “welcome.” 

Nowata County government consists of a treasurer, a sheriff, an assessor, and a clerk (executive).  It has 3 Commissioners (legislative.)  Five District Court Judges serve Nowata and Washington counties and a court clerk serves Nowata County (judicial.)  The Verdegris River crosses north to south through this county located northeast of Tulsa.  The county center is 2.9 miles North-Northwest of Nowata.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Kansas and Craig, Rogers, and Washington counties. 

The area of the county is 565 square miles.  It is 68 out of 77 in the state.  It ranks 59 out of 77 in population in the state.  It has a density of 16.5 persons per square mile making it 51 out of 77 in the state.  Nowata County has 52.7% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 60 crosses east to west, Craig County to Washington County.  United States Highway 169 comes in from Kansas at the north and goes out to the south into Rogers County.  The county is a tall rectangle.  Nowata is in the southern half of the county.  Nowata is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 37.7% of the county population.  The county and county seat are pronounced NOE-WA-TA.