The site was chosen for its location on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway and likely named for a railroad attorney, Alva Adams, who had become governor of Colorado.

[8] The United States Secretary of the Interior chose Alva as the seat of County M when Oklahoma Territory was organized in 1890.

[8] In 1896, three years after the land run, George Cromwell and "Coal Oil Johnny" Broughan created and managed the Alva Giants, the city's first traveling baseball team including pitcher Bill McGill, who went on to join the St. Louis Browns in 1907.

[1] According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 2.4 square miles (6.2 km2), all land.

The original 160-acre farms have mostly been consolidated into much larger units, concentrating on production of beef and wheat.

[8] Aeronautics firm Vantage Plane Plastics, located at the airport, claims the title of "the world's largest supplier of FAA Approved interior components for most all general aviation aircraft", employing 24 people with 2016 gross sales of $3.8 Million.

[16][17] In 1998 a group of local wheat farmers founded the frozen dough manufacturing facility, Value Added Products, a cooperative that in 2017 employed 83 people with an annual payroll of $2.2 Million.

Alva is home to Northwestern Oklahoma State University (NWOSU), founded in 1897 as a 'Northwestern Normal School'.

[8] President James E. Ament and two teachers made up the first faculty, with classes meeting in the Congregational Church.

The Castle burned down in 1935 and was replaced by Jesse Dunn Hall, which was dedicated in 1937 by Eleanor Roosevelt.

The university also boasts a proud tradition in athletics, competing as the Northwestern Oklahoma State Rangers in the Great American Conference.

Formerly residing in the Sooner Athletic Conference in the NAIA, the Rangers made the move to NCAA Division II membership in 2012 under the direction of current university president Dr. Janet Cunningham, and former director of athletics Andrew Carter.

[22] Alva is located on the Panhandle Subdivision of the Southern Transcon route of the BNSF Railway.

This is the main transcontinental route between Los Angeles and Chicago, and carries an average of 90 freight trains per day.