city, seat (1907) of Grady county, central Oklahoma, U.S., on the Washita River, southwest of Oklahoma City. Founded in 1892 near a Rock Island Railroad (Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific Railroad Company) stop, it was named for an Indian tribe and populated largely by Kiowa and Comanche Indians until 1901, when the area was opened to white settlement.

Chickasha is in an oil and agricultural (cotton, corn 【maize】, wheat, and dairy cattle) area. Industries include cotton ginning, cottonseed-oil milling, oil refining, and the manufacture of oil-field equipment, horse trailers, and farm machinery. The Chickasha natural gas field is one of the world's largest. The University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma was established there as a liberal arts college in 1908. Inc. 1899. Pop. (1990) 14,988; (2000) 15,850.