The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture

NINNEKAH.

Ninnekah, a community in central Grady County, adjoins Chickasha on the south in Township 5 North, Range 7 West, and is situated east of U.S. Highway 81, forty-two miles southwest of Oklahoma City. When the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway reached Chickasha in the Chickasaw Nation, Indian Territory, in 1892, George R. Beeler, a Chickasaw by marriage, surveyed a townsite on his ranch. A post office was established there on July 28, 1892, and the settlement was named Ninnekah, a Choctaw word meaning "night" or "darkness."

George W. Thomas arrived in Ninnekah in February 1903. He farmed, ranched, and operated a store. His crops were corn, cotton, and wheat. The Thomas store was Ninnekah's first brick building. Popular items included rounds of yellow cheese that were measured with a knife and sold with a handful of crackers for five cents. Thomas also purchased locally produced chickens, eggs, and corn at his store. Across the street was Cy Weatherly's Ice Cream Parlor, which was a favorite gathering place. On Saturdays the men congregated around the blacksmith shop.

In 1908 George Thomas built a grain elevator to handle wheat and corn. He served in the Oklahoma State Legislature in 1928–30 and was the first Republican elected to a public office in Grady County. In 1935 Thomas gave 160 acres located seven miles west of Apache to the Black Beaver Council of Boy Scouts to use as a campground. Thousands of boys annually attended the camp.

Ninnekah is located in an agricultural region, and farm equipment is manufactured in the community. Between 1909 and 1919 the town had an estimated four hundred inhabitants. The first federal census for Ninnekah reported 1,941 residents in 1930. The town's population declined from 1,085 in 1980 to 994 in 2000. Ninnekah has supported an active senior citizens group, a store, two churches, a post office, and a public school system. The 2010 census counted 1,002 people living there. The April 2020 census reported 782.

Gwen Jackson