Oklahoma State Highway 36 - History

History

State Highway 36 first appears on the 1927 state highway map, implying that it was added to the system sometime between May 1, 1926, the date of the prior map, and November 1, 1927. The 1927 map shows SH-36 crossing the Red River at a bridge due south of Grandfield. From the bridge, the highway heads north to Grandfield and continues from there along its approximate present-day route. It ended at SH-8 south of Lawton.

Between July 1, 1928 and January 1, 1929, the southernmost portion of SH-36 was rerouted. The segment of highway between Grandfield and the Red River bridge south of town was removed from the state highway system; instead, SH-36 was rerouted to the east, serving Devol and ending at US-70 west of Randlett, where US-70 turned south to cross the river north of Burkburnett, Texas. Between August 1933 and February 1934, US-70 was rerouted to follow a more direct path between Randlett and the Texas line. A north–south segment of the old highway was assigned to SH-36—the southernmost 3.9 miles (6.3 km) of the present-day highway. On March 3, 1945, US-70 was rerouted to cross into Texas south of Davidson instead, forming the concurrency with SH-36 east of Grandfield.

In 1939, SH-36 was extended to the north. The highway followed US-277/US-281 north to the south side of Lawton. There, the highway split off to head due north along Fort Sill Boulevard through town, coming to an end at the gate of Fort Sill itself. Changes also occurred further south. On September 10, 1951, US-70 and SH-36 were realigned to a new, more direct path between Grandfield and Randlett.

The portion of SH-36 through Lawton to Fort Sill was stripped of its designation in 1978. No major changes have occurred to the highway since then.