 beckham county is a county located in the u.s. state of oklahoma. as of the 2010 census, the population was 22,119. its county seat is sayre. founded upon statehood in 1907, beckham county was named for j. c. w. beckham, who was governor of kentucky,linda d. encyclopedia of oklahoma history and culture. "beckham county". and as the first popularly elected member of the united states senate from kentucky (there was also a short lived sister-county counterpart, beckham county, kentucky from february 9, 1904, to april 29, 1904, was dissolved by the kentucky court of appeals because it was not created in conformance with state law). ==history== in 1855, the u.s. government leased the western part of the choctaw and chickasaw lands, which became known as the leased district. after the civil war, the two nations were forced to cede the land to the government. in 1869, the former leased district was designated by the president as the cheyenne-arapaho reservation. during the 1880s, texas cattlemen leased grazing land from the cheyennes and arapahos. in 1892, the land was opened to non-indian settlement. the area then was designated as county f in the newly created oklahoma territory, until it was renamed roger mills county. at statehood, portions of land from both roger mills county and greer county, oklahoma were joined to form beckham county. sayre was named as the temporary county seat. a 1908 election made sayre the permanent seat. in 1910, a piece of southern beckham county was returned to greer county. the gannett survey of 1927-1929 found that the true 100th meridian, the actual boundary between texas and western oklahoma was actually  farther east than originally supposed. the supreme court ruled that the strip of land must be returned to texas, thereby reducing beckham county's area slightly. ==geography== according to the [[united states
1907_establishments_in_Oklahoma Beckham_County,_Oklahoma Oklahoma_counties Populated_places_established_in_1907