SHAWNEEShawnee, named for the Indians the Quaker mission (built in 1885) was to serve, has come along
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way from a log house built in 1881 by a Louisiana trapper to being the birth place of
Brad Pitt, who has appeared in movies with Academy Award winners such as George Clooney, Susan Sarandon and Julia Roberts. The town was founded in 1893 when the area opened to white
settlements. It became a small farming/ranching community with a few local businesses. Once the railroad arrived in 1895, there was no turning back. The oil boom of the 1920s also helped to put Shawnee on the map. It is now the seat of St. Gregory University and Oklahoma Baptist University. Brad Pitt isn't Shawnee's only claim to fame.
Jim Thorpe, the Olympic athlete and football player was born nearby. Dr. Brewster Higley, who wrote the lyrics to "Home on the Range" made Shawnee his home later in his life. Oil production, stock raising, farming and small industries are the backbone to Shawnee's economy still today.