Lindsay, OK

At the 2020 census, Lindsay was a Garvin County city of 2,864 people born from a railroad meeting point. The town was laid out in January 1902 after the Kiowa, Chickasha and Fort Smith Railway and the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific connected their lines halfway between Chickasha and Pauls Valley. Lewis Lindsay donated the townsite, and for a while trains from both directions turned around here. Cotton came first, followed by broomcorn, oil, and the mix of farm products that kept Lindsay moving after the rail junction changed.

Broomcorn made the town famous. Introduced in 1906, it reached such a scale that Lindsay was called the “Broomcorn Capital of the World” by the 1950s; synthetic brooms and production costs ended that era by 1982. Oil drilling began nearby in 1944, and alfalfa, soybeans, wheat, corn, and milo followed. Two miles south, the 1882 Murray-Lindsay Mansion in Erin Springs adds a domestic and museum layer, while Lindsay’s parks and schools handle the everyday present. Lindsay is a place where a vanished crop still gives the town its biggest nickname.