Verden, OK

Verden is a town in western Grady County, Oklahoma, United States. The 2020 census counted 580 residents. Verden abuts the Caddo County line, and is probably best known as the site of the 1865 Camp Napoleon Council. A rural community called "Cottonwood Grove" began to emerge near the present site of Verden before the Civil War. Verden resident Allen Toles was an African American farmer who had become a landowner through the Homestead Act of 1862. He built the Verden Separate School on his own property in 1910 as a school for black children. Verden makes sense once you see how its past, landscape, and current gathering spots overlap.

The useful thing to know about Verden is that its older landmarks and current settings belong to one connected place. Verden was on the eastern edge of the Kiowa and Comanche reservation that was established by the Medicine Lodge Treaty, that was made with the U.S. government in 1867. Verden is located in western Grady County. Verden is on U.S. Route 62 and State Highway 9, 9 miles west of Chickasha, the county seat, and 18 miles east of Anadarko.