Woodward

Formed January 1, 1876 (1^st county)

Woodward County (20,473), Woodward (12,127)

The concrete Art Deco courthouse looks like a governmental building.   It was built in 1936 at Main and 16^th.  United States Highways 183/270/412 pass two blocks south of the location.  Tonini and Bramblet provided the design.  The current building and a 1901 courthouse have been in the county since the January 1, 1876 organization therefore Woodward has always been the county seat.  The building was restored in 1947 following a tornado hit and enlarged in 2010.  The county and county seat’s names come from the railroad station at the location of the current city which got its name from Railroad Director Brinton W. Woodward.  The county was an original county (1^st county) and called County N. 

Woodward County government consists of a sheriff and 3 Commissioners.  Fourteen District Court Judges serve Woodward, Alfalfa, Blaine, Dewey, Garfield, Grant, Kingfisher, Major, and Woods counties.  The county is in the northwest part of the state.  The county center is in Woodward 2.5 miles Northeast of the city center.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Woods, Major, Dewey, Ellis, and Harper counties. 

The area of the county is 1242 square miles.  It is 11 out of 77 in the state.  It ranks 40 out of 77 in population in the state.  It has a density of 16.5 persons per square mile making it 52 out of 77 in the state.  Woodward County has 67.5% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 183 comes in from Major County on the southeast and goes into Harper County on the northwest.  United States Highway 270 enters joined with United States Highway 183 from Major County, and splits just prior to both going into Harper County.  United States Highway 412 enters from Major County (east), joins United States Highway 270 at Woodward, and continues into Harper County.  The county is rectangular with a rooster comb added on the northeast.  Woodward is located in the western third and slightly south of the center line of the county.  Woodward is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 59.2% of the county population.  This county is in the Woodward Micropolitan Statistical Area.