Tonkawa, OK

Tonkawa is a Kay County city on the Salt Fork of the Arkansas River, 14 miles west of Ponca City. The place’s institutional landmark is Northern Oklahoma College, which began as the University Preparatory School in 1901 after the Oklahoma Territory Legislature funded it. Tonkawa also carries a wartime chapter: Camp Tonkawa operated as a German prisoner-of-war camp during World War II. U.S. 60 and U.S. 77 cross through the city, with Interstate 35 two miles west. If you’re passing across northern Oklahoma, Tonkawa reads as river town, old territorial school, and a highway crossroads with a wartime history.