Discreet Biohazard Cleanup Near North Canton Canton, OK

Canton is a town in northwestern Blaine County, Oklahoma, south of the North Canadian River at the intersection of State Highways 51 and 58.

Canton takes its name from Cantonment, a U.S. Army post established nearby on March 6, 1879 by Colonel Richard I. Dodge as a halfway point between Fort Reno and Fort Supply.

The townsite was chosen when the Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Railway crossed the river in 1905; the Union Real Estate and Townsite Company held a lot sale on August 5, 1905, and Canton sprang up almost overnight.

Canton had 703 residents by 1910, and its population peaked at 959 in the 1950 census.

In October 1923 the North Canadian River overflowed in one of the worst floods in Canton's history, part of the flooding problem that led Congress to authorize the Canton Lake project in 1938.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completed Canton Dam in 1948, creating Canton Lake just north of town; the project cost about $11 million and was formally dedicated in May 1949.

Canton Lake also stores municipal water — Oklahoma City began contracting for Canton Lake water storage in 1955.

In the late 1960s the Canton Chamber of Commerce inaugurated the Walleye Rodeo, a fishing derby on Canton Lake that helped make the lake famous for walleye fishing.

The old Cantonment site, just off the west shore of Canton Lake, is marked by a restored building maintained by the Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribes.

The 2020 census counted 468 people in Canton, down sharply from 625 in 2010, and the town covers only about half a square mile.