Thomas, OK

Thomas is a Custer County city with a 2020 population of 1,143, set in western Oklahoma farm country. It grew as a trade and support center: by 1909 the town had banks, cotton gins, grain elevators, and a flour mill, and local sweet potatoes once fed a canning factory. The old business mix tells you what Thomas was for—a place where surrounding farms could bring crops, repairs, money, and supplies into one main street. The town's population peaked at 1,515 in 1980 before settling into its present smaller scale.

Thomas still has more civic equipment than its size might suggest. The Oklahoma Historical Society's town history records a four-acre city park, tennis courts, hospital, and public library by the 1940s; today the Thomas-Hazel Cross Library, Thomas Municipal Airport, and Thomas-Fay-Custer Public Schools keep that public network visible. The school district serves PK-12 students from its Main Street campus and remains one of the town's everyday touchstones. Thomas is a practical western Oklahoma town: agricultural roots, a full set of community institutions, and a local center that still serves people beyond the city limits.