Biohazard Cleanup Near Bartlett Granite, OK

Granite is a town in Greer County in southwestern Oklahoma, named for the red granite found in the mountains around it, with a post office established on December 6, 1889.

Granite was originally part of Greer County, Texas - the town became part of Oklahoma Territory in 1896 after a long border dispute, and joined the new state of Oklahoma in 1907.

The townsite was platted in 1900 by K. C. Cox, who sold lots at the junction of what are now Oklahoma State Highways 6 and 9.

Granite is known across the country for its monument industry - quarries such as Willis Granite Products cut native red granite into headstones, memorials and signs shipped throughout the United States.

Headquarters Mountain, which rises to about 1,980 feet, looms directly over the north side of Granite.

Granite is home to the Oklahoma State Reformatory, a state prison for adult men that combines medium-security housing with some maximum- and minimum-security units.

The Granite Enterprise, the town's newspaper, has been published since May 1900.

Lake Altus, on the North Fork of the Red River, sits about two miles east of Granite, and since 2002 the town has received treated water from the Quartz Mountain Regional Water Authority.

Granite's population was 1,627 in the 2020 census - the count is swollen by the prison population, and the town peaked at 2,065 residents in 2010.

Farming and ranching round out Granite's economy alongside the granite quarries and the reformatory, which together make the small town one of Greer County's main employment centers.