Work overnights at a truck stop in Nowata. Travelers often ask me what town they are in.
Tell them Nowata.
No water?
Yea, that too.
Original name was Noweta, Cherokee for welcome home.
About a hundred years ago the townsfolk hired a painter to paint the town's name on a water tower next to the railroad tracks. The drunk misspelled Noweta.
For kicks, want to get an historical marker on my front lawn - marking where the Indian passed out drunk, who gave Nowata it's name.