To the east and northeast, Shawnee is 112 miles from the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System, which provides shipping barge access to the Gulf of Mexico.

The area surrounding Shawnee was settled after the American Civil War by a number of tribes that the federal government had removed to Indian Territory.

The Dawes Act allocated the tribes' communal lands into 160-acre plots to individual tribal members believing it would support a family farm.

Etta Ray married Henry Beard, an Oklahoma City business owner, a month after the run and they came to her claim to live in the cabin that she and her family had built for them.

Beard entered into an agreement with the promoters of the Choctaw, Oklahoma and Gulf Railroad (CO&G), then extending its line from Memphis, Tennessee, to Amarillo, Texas, to build through the land his wife had claimed.

Feed stores, wagon yards, an overall factory, and an assortment of other businesses designed to serve the farmers as they brought their crops to market arose in Shawnee.

[12][13][14] That company was in the hands of a receiver by December of 1905,[15] and on February 16, 1906 was taken over by the Shawnee-Tecumseh Traction Co. (“STT”),[16] sometimes called the Interurban Electric Railway,[17] which had been incorporated the day before.

[16] By 1910 STT had 19.21 miles of total trackage,[19] and by 1917 it had extended its North Broadway streetcar line all the way to the campus of Oklahoma Baptist University.

Choosing not to organize its activity around a central square, as did many towns in New England, the South, and upper-Midwest, Shawnee represents a distinctly western model of urban development.

Depending on railroad lines for its economic health, Shawnee's Main Street became the focal point for commercial, manufacturing, and entertainment activity beginning in 1895, four years after the region was opened for European-American settlement when authorities staged a land run.

As late as 1910, city leaders hoped that one more rail line, a meat packing plant, and the state capital might be just enough to surge ahead of its rival 30 miles to the west.

Troy N. Smith, Sr. and Joe McKimmey owned the Log House Restaurant and a drive-up root beer stand called the Top Hat.

Beginning in the 1970s, Shawnee's economy improved with the addition of a number of industrial plants, including Eaton Corp. and TDK north of the city; they added approximately 1,000 jobs to the community base.

Before World War II, Main Street also had numerous drugstores and soda fountains serving as gathering places for young people.

Shawnee's first sky scraper, the Hilton Phillips Hotel, later known as the Aldridge, was built in 1928 at the peak of the wealth and growth generated by the oil boom of the 1920s.

The park had a lake for boating, an opera house, skating rink, roller coaster, large picnic areas and later a swimming pool known as The Plunge.

The arrival of automobiles which most families could then afford plus the financial distress in the late '20s forced closure soon after 1930 although the pool and the picnic areas were still briefly in use.

Tecumseh filed suit, alleging election fraud relating to a $35,000 slush fund, Shawnee supporters providing liquor at the polls, college boys being allowed to vote, etc.

The Citizen Potawatomi Nation, the ninth largest Native American tribe in the United States with 26,000 members, is headquartered between Shawnee and Tecumseh.

With the coming of World War II, civilian fliers were automatically grounded in December 1941 until they took an oath of allegiance, were fingerprinted and presented a birth certificate.

City officials went to Washington to offer Shawnee as a site for one of the many military training bases which would be needed as the country headed into the war.

The Aeronautics Commission also provided a $275,000 state grant to help in the construction costs, while the City of Shawnee paid for the remaining amount.

[41] Sister City – Nikaho, Japan At the southeastern edge of the airport is a commemorative Japanese International Peace Garden A "Bridge of Understanding" and a gravel area with several Oriental-style stone ornamentation.

The roof is wood shingled and colorful flowers are planted around the outside of the gazebo which is dedicated to the Sister Cities International program between Shawnee and Nikaho, Japan.

The park was dedicated to Aloysius Larch-Miller who fought for women's suffrage and was head of the ratification committee fighting for a special session to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment.

First built in 1905, the park originally featured fountains and sunken gardens and was the site of frequent Chautauqua meetings led by such people as William Jennings Bryan.

A small sculpture of a bald eagle atop a sphere on the north edge and a miniature version of the Statue of Liberty face Highland street.

Cy Blanton, who lived in Shawnee and had played for the Robins, and Paul and Loyd Waner from nearby McLoud, were members of the Giants' squad.

At least 34 Major League Baseball players have connections to Shawnee, either by birth, or having played on a local team or lived in town at one time.

There are also three golf courses, several tennis courts, two bowling alleys, Lion's Club baseball park and a softball complex at Firelake.