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Oklahoma City
Capital of Oklahoma, born in a single day
Oklahoma City famously sprang up in a single afternoon. On April 22, 1889, the federal government opened unassigned lands to settlement in the Land Run, and by nightfall a tent city of some 10,000 people stood on the prairie along the North Canadian River. It became the state capital in 1910, wresting the title from Guthrie, and grew into one of the most sprawling cities in the country by land area.
The surrounding country is the rolling red-earth prairie of central Oklahoma, in the heart of Tornado Alley, where some of the most violent storms on Earth form. Oil discovered beneath the city — derricks once pumped on the capitol grounds themselves — fueled its growth. Spread thin across the plains, Oklahoma City anchors the state's largest metro.