Luther, OK

Luther is an Oklahoma County town about 26 miles from Oklahoma City, in the agricultural Cross Timbers region. The 2020 census counted 1,492 residents. The town was named for Luther Jones, son of Oklahoma entrepreneur Charles G. Jones and business partner Luther F. Aldrich. Aldrich bought the land in 1898 because it lay along the St. Louis and Oklahoma City Railroad right-of-way; Luther was platted that year and incorporated in 1905. The Deep Fork River runs through the area, and flooding shaped local history until Arcadia Dam was completed in 1987.

Route 66 passed along Luther's northern side in 1926, leaving the town with a nationally recognizable road connection and the Threatt Filling Station, one of its National Register landmarks. The Oklahoma Historical Society also records Luther's Black high school, cotton-gin economy, rail depots, and early businesses, giving the town a deeper history than the road sign alone suggests. Luther's school and agricultural routines now sit inside the Oklahoma City metropolitan area, while the old highway, river, and railroad alignments still organize how the town is understood.