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Duncan is the birthplace of Ron Howard, Hoyt Axton, and Jeane Kirkpatrick.
Duncan is located at 34°30'60" North, 97°56'58" West (34.516619, -97.949377) 1.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 119.1 km˛ (46.0 mi˛). 100.5 km˛ (38.8 mi˛) of it is land and 18.7 km˛ (7.2 mi˛) of it is water. The total area is 15.67% water.
The Chisholm Trail passed to the east of Duncan prior to the town's founding. An estimated 9,800,000 Longhorn cattle were herded up the trail between Texas and Abilene, Kansas during its existence. After learning that an extension of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad was being built from Kansas to Texas, Scotsman William Duncan brought his wife, parents, and other relatives and created a trading post situated at the intersection of the north-south Chisholm Trail and the east-west military passage between Fort Arbuckle and Fort Sill . The first train arrived on June 27, 1892Events January 1 Ellis Island begins accepting immigrants to the United States. January 14 Death of Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence, second in line heir to the throne of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Next in line is his younger b; that date is considered the official birthdate of the town.
The town persevered despite several setbacks; a devastating tornadoFor other uses of Tornado, see Tornado (disambiguation). waterspout near Florida. A tornado is a violent windstorm characterized by a twisting, funnel-shaped cloud. The word "tornado" comes from the Spanish or Portuguese verb tornar meaning "to turn. destroyed almost every store and building on Main Street in 1898 and there were four fires in 1901, not to mention the DepressionThe Great Depression was a global economic slump that began in the United States following Black Thursday, the Wall Street panic of October 1929. On October 24, 1929, share prices on Wall Street collapsed catastrophically, setting off a chain of bankruptc and Dust BowlDuring the Great Depression, in portions of the North American Great Plains there was a years-long drought, leading to soil erosion and dust storms usually referred to as the Dust Bowl . Crops failed, forcing many farmers to leave in search of work elsewh years. In 1908, a 14-year-old black youth visiting from Chickasha, OklahomaChickasha is a city located in Grady County, Oklahoma. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 15,850. It is the county seat of Grady County 6. Geography Chickasha is located at 35°2'18" North, 97°56'46" West (35. 038431, -97. According, a town 30 miles north, was accused of "accosting" an 11-year-old white girl. He was taken into custody and a lynch mob formed. Sheriff's deputies had to surround the courthouse to prevent the lynching. The crowd turned its anger on the 200 or so "negro" inhabitants of the southeast section of town, posting notices in that quarter that every person of color had to leave town immediately. These inhabitants gathered up their belongings and boarded a south-bound Rock Island Railroad train immediately. They were met on arrival in Fort Worth, Texas, by the Tarrant County Sheriff, who told them they were welcome to stay as long as they didn't get into trouble and found work immediately. The black youth was tried, found guilty and served a prison sentence. The citizens of the town were praised by the newspaper for their "restraint and good sense." 60 years later, Duncan's school system was finally integrated as the blacks-only Douglass School was closed and its students were absorbed into white schools. The integration of the community swimming pools occurred at about this time as well.
Centrally located in Stephens County, OK, Duncan was made the county seat in the first years of the 20th Century. As a compromise between residents of the northern and southern parts of the county, the county courthouse was located in the middle of Duncan's Main Street, half of it in the northern part of the city and county and half in the southern. Main Street made a wide circle around it on both ends. This arrangement ended in the late 1960s when a new courthouse was built a few blocks away; the old courthouse was demolished and Main Street once again ran straight.
Duncan once adopted the slogan, "The Buckle on the Oil Belt." Its main claim to fame is as the birthplace of the Halliburton Corporation . Erle P. Halliburton perfected a new method of cementing wells, making oil production much easier and more profitable, and established the New Method Oil Well Cementing Company in 1919. He died in 1957, at which time the company had 201 offices in 22 states and 20 foreign countries. Its reach has, of course, grown far beyond that. Operations have largely shifted to Houston, Texas but a large manufacturing center, energy institute and other endeavors are still ongoing in Duncan.