[4] Originally settled in 1881 in Indian Territory, the town was incorporated in 1904 just before Oklahoma statehood and was chartered as a city in 1972.

In June 1893, plans began for a rail line to be extended south from Bartlesville to the cattle ranches in the vicinity of Bird Creek.

At that time, already several residences, a blacksmith shop, and a general store were in the Elm Creek settlement.

In 1897, Kansas, Oklahoma Central & Southwestern Railway acquired right-of-way about 3 miles (4.8 km) northwest of the Elm Creek settlement, dammed a natural spring to form a lake as a water supply for the rail line, and built a depot about a mile south of the lake.

The name of the Elm Creek post office was officially changed to Owasso on January 24, 1900.

[citation needed] The first newspaper was The Owasso Ledger which was first published on August 7, 1903, by U. P. Wardrip.

[1][5] Owasso came to its significant attention on February 8th, 2024, when 16-year-old Nex Benedict was found dead after getting into a fight at a school.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 16.31 square miles (42.2 km2), 99.1% of which is land, the remainder water.

The racial makeup of the city is 76.6% White, 4.7% Black, 5.8% Native American, 2.5% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, and 8.0% from two or more races.

Factories included American Airlines, with 9,000 employees, Nordam Group, with 700, Whirlpool, with 1,000 and MCI WorldCom with 2,200.

[5] Owasso is served by the South Kansas and Oklahoma Railroad, which links to Tulsa, the Port of Catoosa, and points north.

On Tuesday, April 21, 2015, the Tulsa World announced that its parent company BH Media, a division of Berkshire Hathaway, the Omaha-based investment holding company led by billionaire Warren Buffett, had purchased several suburban newspapers, including the Owasso Reporter.