As Oklahoma's third largest Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), Lawton serves as a prominent shopping, medical, recreational, educational and religious center for the region. It is the retail and distribution center for the area's cattle, dairy and agricultural industries. Lawton-Fort Sill is also the home of manufacturing and processing companies and is continually working toward the expansion of existing industries and the acquisition of new ones.
By the end of 2014 there will be nearly $50 million in new commercial development in Lawton. Yearly the area plays host to several major music acts at Fort Sill which many are open to the public. Brad Paisley, Toby Keith, Miranda Lambert, Tim McGraw, Alan Jackson, and Tracy Adkins are some of the acts to stop into the local area to preform in the past few years.
Neighboring Lawton-Fort Sill is the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge. Established in 1901,Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge is one of more than 556 refuges throughout the United States managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The 59,020 acre refuge hosts a rare piece of the past - a remnant mixed grass prairie, an island where the natural grasslands escaped destruction because the rocks underfoot defeated the plow.
The refuge provides habitat for large native grazing animals such as American bison, Rocky Mountain elk, and white-tailed deer. Texas longhorn cattle also share the refuge range-lands as a cultural and historical legacy species. More than 50 mammal, 240 bird, 64 reptile and amphibian, 36 fish, and 806 plant species thrive on this important refuge.
Visitors to the refuge can enjoy wildlife watching, hunting, fishing, special events and much more.
For more information on our great town visit lawtonproud.com.
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