[3] Cleveland County is part of the Oklahoma City metropolitan statistical area.

During the late 1820s and 1830s, the area was given to the Creek and Seminole tribes after their forced removal from the southeastern United States.

In 1866, these tribes were forced to cede the area to the Federal Government; the professed rationale was their siding with the Confederacy during the American Civil War.

[4] The area became part of the Unassigned Lands and was opened for white settlement on April 22, 1889.

[7] Cleveland County contains the reservoir Lake Thunderbird 5,349 acres (21.65 km2), constructed between 1962 and 1965.

The county backed Democratic candidate Joy Hofmeister with nearly 52% of the vote in the 2022 gubernatorial election.

The bridge is named for James C. Nance, longtime community newspaper chain publisher and Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives, President Pro Tem of Oklahoma State Senate and Uniform Law Commissioner.

The 1938 construction of this bridge enabled communities from West and Southwest (Byars, Cole, Dibble, Paoli, Pauls Valley, Purcell, Rosedale, and Wayne) side of the river to reach the communities on the East side of the river (Lexington, Slaughterville, and Wanette).

The bridge, rebuilt in 2019, features the same design elements with concrete post and wrought iron railings with protected turn lane and sidewalks.

[22] According to the Oklahoma Department of Transportation, "History was made Friday July 26, 2019 in Purcell and Lexington, just as it was more than 80 years ago when the two cities celebrated the grand opening of a new bridge connecting their communities.

The new US 77 Purcell/Lexington James C. Nance Bridge that links the twin cities, located less than one mile apart, fully opened to traffic with much fanfare on Friday, July 26, 2019, the culmination of a major two-year, expedited reconstruction project.