Wayne, OK

Wayne is a McClain County town on U.S. 77 and State Highway 59, about eight miles south of Purcell and forty miles south of Oklahoma City. The first major travelers through the area followed the California Road, and post-Civil War cattle drives used the grass and water around the future town. The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway reached Wayne in 1887, and railroad workers named the station for Wayne, Pennsylvania. A post office followed in 1890, and the town was platted in 1902.

Wayne grew as an agricultural center with cotton gins, grain elevators, stockyards, and a market for nearby farms. Fire destroyed the business district in 1898, after which the town rebuilt west of the tracks. Today Wayne Elementary, Middle, and High School and Mid-America Technology Center keep education on the local map. The town stands on high ground between the Canadian and Washita river drainages, with Purcell north and Paoli south along U.S. 77. Its story has the sturdy rhythm of a railroad and farm town: tracks, markets, fire, rebuilding, and open country.