Альтус, Оклахома: История и современность города

Altus ('/æ//l//t//ə//s/) is a city in and the county seat of Jackson County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 18,729 at the 2020 census. Altus is home to Altus Air Force Base, the United States Air Force training base for C 17, KC 46 and KC 135 aircrews. It is also home to Western Oklahoma State College and Southwest Technology Center.

The town that would later be named Altus was founded in 1886. The community was originally called "Frazer", a settlement of about 50 people on Bitter Creek that served as a trading post on the Great Western Cattle Trail. Cowboys driving herds northward often stopped to buy buttermilk from John McClearan. Thus, the town was known locally as "Buttermilk Station". The Frazer post office opened February 18, 1886. A flash flood nearly destroyed Frazer on June 4, 1891. The residents moved to higher ground east of the original site. W. R. Baucum suggested renaming the town "Altus", a Latin word meaning "high". This name stuck, although the town was also known as "Leger" from July 10, 1901, to May 14, 1904. The population doubled between the time of Oklahoma statehood and the 1910 census and even increased during the Great Depression. The city lies between the main channel and North Fork of the Red River.

Altus has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa) bordering upon a semi arid climate (BSk). Summers are very hot to sweltering, though occasionally heavy rainfall does occur due to remains of Gulf of Mexico hurricanes moving inland. A record high of was recorded twice in 1936. Autumn is brief, with generally very warm afternoons and comfortably cool mornings, while winter is extremely variable. Chinook winds can sometimes raise temperatures to uncomfortably hot even in the low winter sun, in the process often drying out vegetation to produce wildfires. On the other hand, if a block forms over the Gulf of Alaska very cold air can be driven into the Plains States from Canada, producing temperatures below in extreme cases. Such cold temperatures on average occur once every three winters, although on average 78.5 mornings each year fall to or below the freezing point. Snowfall is rare and erratic: the most in a months being in January 1966, while most rainfall comes during the unsettled spring season, when heavy thunderstorms can occur from the convergence of hot and cold air masses to produce very intense short period rainfall. The wettest month has been May 1980 with , whilst zero precipitation has on occasion been recorded in every month except May and June, and the wettest 24 hour period on October 20, 1983 with The wettest calendar year has been 1941 with and the driest 1970 with .

As of the census of 2010, there were 19,813 people living in the city. Commercial air transportation is available at the Lawton Fort Sill Regional Airport, about 57 miles to the east. The Wichita, Tillman and Jackson Railway provides rail freight service.

The public schools of Altus are in Oklahoma School District number 18. In the Altus Public School District there are nine schools, including five elementary schools, an intermediate school, a junior high school, a high school, and a learning center. For the 2011–2012 school year there were approximately 3,851 students. Western Oklahoma State College and Southwest Technology Center provide opportunities for higher education in the area.