Оклахома штатының Кливленд округі

County in Oklahoma, United States

Cleveland County is a county in the central part of the U. S. state of Oklahoma. The population was 295,528 at the 2020 United States census, making it the third most populous county in Oklahoma. Its county seat is Norman. The county was named for U. S. President Grover Cleveland. Cleveland County is part of the Oklahoma City metropolitan statistical area.

Originally occupied by the Quapaw tribe, the Quapaw ceded the area to the U. S. Government soon after the Louisiana Purchase in 1818. 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. An agreement between the two tribes resulted in this area being part of the Seminole Nation, located west of the Creek Nation. 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. The area became part of the Unassigned Lands and was opened for white settlement on April 22, 1889. After the passage of the Organic Act in 1890, Cleveland County was organized as County 3 (of 7) and Norman became the county seat. For a short time, Cleveland County was known as Little River County, until an election in 1890. The voters selected the name Cleveland in honor of President Grover Cleveland over the name Lincoln. It is the eighth smallest county in the state. Cleveland County contains the reservoir Lake Thunderbird , constructed between 1962 and 1965. Its waters covered the previous settlement of Denver. Cleveland County is the origin of the Little River, a tributary of the Canadian River, 90 mile (145 km) long. The Canadian River defines the southern border of Cleveland County.

The University of Oklahoma is located in Norman. It is the largest university in Oklahoma with approximately 30,000 students.

Pioneer Library System operates branch libraries in ten cities in Cleveland, McClain and Pottawatomie counties.

The University of Oklahoma Westheimer Airport is owned by the University of Oklahoma. It is located northwest of Norman.

The US 77 James C. Nance Memorial Bridge linking Lexington and Purcell was originally built as a circa 1938 deck truss two lane bridge and in 2019 rebuilt as a concrete pier four lane bridge crossing the Canadian River between Purcell and Lexington, Oklahoma. The bridge carries U. S. Route 77 (US 77) and Oklahoma State Highway 39 (SH 39) from McClain County to Cleveland County. 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 Nance bridge allows travel time from Purcell (west side of the Canadian River) to Lexington (east side of the river) to be only three minutes by car, according to google maps. When the bridge was closed for emergency repairs, the same trip was 43 minutes when rerouted north to the nearest bridge, or one hour, four minutes when rerouted southeast to the nearest bridge. 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). Traffic using the bridge allows trade and commerce to freely flow in this retail trade area of southern McClain County, southern Cleveland County, Southern Pottawatomie County, and northern areas of Garvin County, and the eastern portion of Grady County. The bridge, rebuilt in 2019, features the same design elements with concrete post and wrought iron railings with protected turn lane and sidewalks. 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."