A Little About Our Town...

     Geary is a small farming community with a rich and diverse history. We are home to the only museum in Blaine County, which is housed in the Gillespie Building. The Gillespie building was built in 1903 as the Bank of Commerce, the oldest bank in Blaine county.  We are located inside the Cheyenne-Arapaho Nation and have a very active Native community. We are the home to the final resting place of Arapahoe Chief Left Hand and famed scout and developer of the Chisholm Trail, Jesse Chisholm. They are both buried at Left Hand Springs, just a few miles north of Geary city limits. Geary was also on the original tract of Route 66. We are also home to the "Nation's Oldest & Toughest Wrestling Tournament" which was started in 1945.

     There are many unique and exciting things about Geary.

     How did we get here?

     The area occupied by the present city of Geary was previously part of the Cheyenne-Arapaho reservation until it was opened in April 1892 for settlement by non-Indians. Shuffle Huff and his son, William, filed several land claims in the area and sold two quarter sections to a land development company. A community was begun about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) northwest of its present location. Settlers moved the town to the present site to be located on the proposed route of the Choctaw, Oklahoma and Gulf Railroad line that was to be built west from El Reno.

     How did we get our name?

     Edmund Guerriere, of French - Cheyenne ancestry and a former Army scout and interpreter, had acquired a land allotment about 3 miles (4.8 km) northeast of the town. According to the Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, the town name was spelled "Geary" because the settlers had difficulty spelling and pronouncing the original name.

     The Geary post office was established October 12, 1892. Quickly becoming a trade center for the agricultural area that surrounded it, Geary was established as a "first-class city" in Oklahoma Territory in 1902.