Stratford, OK

Stratford sits at the junction of U.S. 177 and State Highway 19, roughly midway between Pauls Valley and Ada in Garvin County. Its location is a railroad story as much as a highway one. The settlement that became Stratford began as McGee in the Chickasaw Nation, then moved two miles south when the Oklahoma Central Railway bypassed the original site in 1906. The new town was first called Walling and became Stratford that October. That move left the town's streets, old commercial buildings, and routes gathered around a line laid across Indian Territory before statehood.

Peaches give Stratford its annual date on the calendar. The Stratford Peach Festival and Rodeo takes place each July; the festival began in 1976, while the three-day rodeo dates to 1936. The town calls itself the Peach Capital of the World, and area orchards covered more than 400 acres in 2000. The First National Bank Building remains on the National Register, and the town's civic life also includes a public library, newspaper, chamber, churches, and school district. Stratford's working story has included cotton, lumber, fishing equipment, beef jerky, and peaches, all tied to the crossroads.