The past 10 years have brought major changes to the Mustang community, from booming neighborhood growth and the expansion of businesses to the completion of major public improvement projects such as the city's Vision 2000 iniative and the construction of new schools.
Residents came together to celebrate Mustang's 100th birthday as a community and 60th anniversary as a recognized city as well as annual Western Days festivities, while also pulling together in our nation's time of need following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Mustang's top community leadership has also changed.
Here is a look back on a few of the top stories of a pivotal decade for our community:

2000
uDirt work started at Wild Horse Park, now a central recreation hub for Mustang. Vision 2000 projects included the building of Town Center, the aquatic center, softball fields and a plaza area. Estimated cost was $14 million.
uMustang School District voters approved in May $4.75 million in bonds to build a band addition at Mustang High School, additional classrooms and a cafeteria at Mustang Valley Elementary. Superintendent Karl Springer, who was hired in February, said the vote showed the community's support for the district and their children.
uWork began in April on the state Highway 4 bridge over the South Canadian River which connects Mustang and Tuttle.

2001
uStorms ripped through Mustang in May, tearing the roof off city hall. Officials moved into the old Bill Merritt funeral home on state Highway 152 as a temporary location. Cleanup costs topped $175,000.
The former city hall was located in front of the Silver Shopping Center on North Mustang Road. In 2002, All America Bank owner Gary Huckabay bought the property, and the building was razed.
“The land where city hall is located is more valuable than the building itself,” Mayor Ross Duckett said after the storm. “With all of those factors combined, it would lead me to say we would be much wiser to take those resources and build a new city hall in Wild Horse Park rather than repairing an old building.”
uThe city sold part of Curtis Park to First Baptist Church of Mustang for $650,000. That summer, workers demolished the swimming pool in Curtis Park after 40 years of service.
uMustang School Board members bought former Mustang Nursing Center for $10 from Housing and Urban Development in September. The center was plagued with problems and was closed earlier that year. The facility became Mustang Education Center and now houses the district's high school alternative education program, elementary gifted and talent program and prekindergarten classes.
uMustang residents gathered for a candlelight vigil at Bronco Field to honor the lives lost in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C. Donations and teddy bears were donated for families of the victims.
uIntegris Canadian Valley Regional Hospital opened Nov. 5. The 40-bed hospital started with a 10-bed women's center and onsite radiology services, pharmacy, surgery procedures, physical therapy and respiratory therapy.
uPolice Chief David Cockrell became acting city manager Dec. 1 as Huey Long announced his retirement.
uMustang celebrated its centennial year as a community. Resident Jerry McNeil dressed as Charles “Gristmill” Jones for the celebration in the Wild Horse Park pavilion. Jones filed the original town plat on Nov. 22, 1901. In the ceremony, McNeil handed the plat to Kathleen Moon, who played Annie Maxwell, Mustang's first post mistress. Moon passed the document to a Pony Express re-enactor, who galloped off with the document.

2002
uOfficials celebrated in January the opening of the state Highway 4 bridge over the South Canadian River between Tuttle and Mustang. The highway project cost about $29 million.
uSeveral Vision 2000 projects opened to the public. The projects were paid for with a 1-cent sales tax.
The new Mustang Police Department opened in February. Police moved into a 17,000-square-foot facility, which includes a jail with four adult cells and one juvenile cell, a garage and office space for 29 employees.
The Mustang Aquatic Center opened on May 25, followed by openings of the softball complex and Mustang Town Center, with a new library, senior center and recreation center.
uMustang School District voters approved in March $7.8 million in bond issues to build classrooms Mustang North and Mustang Trails schools and a field house at Mustang North, remodel Mustang Valley Elementary's former cafeteria and buy computers and equipment.

2003
uDavid Cockrell is selected as Mustang city manager after serving in the role as an interim for more than a year. Monte James is hired as police chief after serving in the interim capacity.
uWal-Mart opened its supercenter on May 21.
uEMSA became Mustang's ambulance provider in November after Mercy discontinued its service.

2004
uMustang Fire Department started 24-hour service in January with 11 full-time firefighters and 29 volunteers. Chief Alvin McClung said response times for incidents occurring in the evening or on weekends was cut in half.
uMustang Chamber moved out of a portable building in February and into Mustang Town Center. Becky Julian is hired as the new director in April.
uMustang opened 11 soccer fields in September in Wild Horse Park with 670 children competing as part of the Mustang Soccer Association.
uMustang Assembly of God became the Bridge AG in September.
uConcerns related to the removal of a nativity scene from a Lakehoma Elementary School play boiled over as voters defeated a $10.9 million bond package in December. The funds would have paid for the construction of an elementary school to help ease overcrowding in other Mustang schools.

2005
uCity Attorney Ted Pool resigned in April after 20 years serving Mustang, and then in December, City Engineer Joe Painter resigned. Some city council members said they believed Mayor Chad McDowell played a role in these workers' decisions.
uDistrict Attorney Cathy Stocker decided in April Mustang City Council members would not face charges from a probe into whether they violated the state's Open Meetings Act. Stocker said despite not filing charges, “several members engaged in conduct that arguably could be construed as violations” of the act. Her decision came almost a year after allegations were raised that Council members conducted city business using e-mail, and a letter introduced by (former) Councilman Darrell Noblitt and signed by fellow Council members that was not properly posted on the agenda.
uMustang School Board members approved in May a religious liberty policy that backers hoped would avoid future controversies like the one that erupted in December 2004 over a school's holiday play. School board members named 30 people to the Religious Liberties Task Force in January to draft the policy.
uTen months after failing to win support for nearly identical measures, Mustang School District voters approved two school bond issues totaling $13 million, including funding to build Mustang Centennial Elementary.
uMustang High School athletes competed in the state football championship game for the first time in 25 years. The Broncos lost to Tulsa Union 33-7. Mustang ended the year with an 11-3 season. Quarterback Matt Edmonds was named Player of the Year.
uA grassfire blazed through east Mustang neighborhoods Dec. 27 as winds topped 45 mph. It destroyed six homes and seriously damaged two other structures. Fifteen fire departments came to Mustang's aid, and it took 150 firefighters about seven hours to contain the flames. Mustang firefighters were still putting out hot spots three days later. Chief Carl Hickman said the cause was not determined.

2006
uTodd Dilbeck accepted a position at Rice University after leading the Broncos to the state runnerup title in 6A football. Mike Clark was later hired as athletic director, and Ty Prestidge became head football coach.
In 2009, Clark took a position with the Oklahoma Secondary Schools Activities Association. Chuck Bailey was named Mustang athletic director, after leaving a post at the University of Central Oklahoma.
uJeff Landrith upset incumbent Chad McDowell and swept the mayoral election with over 55 percent of the vote.
uThe Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation declined a request for a probe into alleged violations of the state's Open Meeting Act by McDowell. Former Councilwoman Wendy Wilkerson had called for the investigation in January stemming from an alleged phone conversation between McDowell and Painter, leading to the engineer's resignation.
The OSBI responded to District Attorney Cathy Stocker's request by saying the allegations did not warrant a state investigation and the alleged comments could not provide probable cause in the bureau's estimation.
uIn the first vote on city bond issues in 15 years, Mustang residents voted down measures would have funded major street repairs and a multi-million dollar sports complex. Only a $960,000 measure for fire equipment replacement eked out a win.

2007
uMore than 70 percent of voters supported a $13 million bond proposal for Mustang School District, which included funding for the Health and Wellness Center and 20 elementary school classrooms.
uCanadian Valley Technology Center officials broke ground on an $11 million east campus at Czech Hall Road and SW 15th Street. The 57,000-square-foot facility will also house additional industry training and meeting space.
uMustang Club of America officials called the Oklahoma Centennial Mustang Car Show a success during an awards ceremony, before organizers awarded more than 250 plaques to attendees.
uIn June, Mustang City Council unanimously approved an agreement with Lowes Home Improvement Center. Lowes built in Mustang after about a year's worth of negotiations, and after city officials offered a $1.76 million incentive package, paid annually in $352,000 installments for five years — as long as Lowes meets specific performance standards outlined in the agreement. The store opened the next year.
Should Lowes fail to meet those standards, that year's incentive would not be paid but would not disqualify the company from receiving the next year's payment. Those performance standards include investing $10 million into an approximately 95,000-square-foot facility; maintaining a $2 million payroll, including salary and benefits and generating gross annual sales of no less than $15 million.
uParents and children examined every nook and cranny of Mustang Centennial Elementary as the school opened in August. Construction at the 65,000-square-foot elementary school came down to the wire. Children started the school year without a functioning media center, gymnasium or a playground.

2008
uTwelve Mustang families fled from their homes when a fire gutted Fieldstone Garden Apartments Building 8 in March. Deputy Chief Roy Widmann said the fire started in the southeast corner of the building. He expected the damage to the building to top $1 million, with at least $500,000 in damage to residents' belongings.
One firefighter injured his elbow in fighting the fire, but was treated and released at the scene, Widmann said, adding no other injuries were reported.
uMustang voters rejected two bond issues in April, putting the brakes on proposals to repair two miles of Czech Hall Road and to build a new baseball complex. The issues totaled $7.9 million.
The day before Mustang voters went to the polls, an automated call was made to voters informing them of how much property taxes might increase if the measures passed. Mayor Jeff Landrith paid for the calls.
Newcomer Katherine Callahan upset Len Scott for the Ward 6 City Council seat.
uGreg Winters took the top post at Canadian Valley Technology Center, as Earl Cowan retired after 24 years as superintendent.
uState inspectors cited Canadian County for deficiencies at the jail in May after voters rejected a sales tax increase that would have funded a proposed $24.8 million facility.
If the measure had passed, it would have meant a sales tax increase of .35 of a cent for 15 years — the life of the loan on the proposed complex — then scale down to a .25 of a cent permanent increase.
uMustang School Board members chose Bonnie Lightfoot as interim superintendent in July after Karl Springer resigned to take the top Oklahoma City School District post. the 35-year educator was later hired as superintendent in 2009.
uCanadian County had a new sheriff for the first time in 19 years after challenger Randall Edwards defeated incumbent Lewis Hawkins for the seat. David Anderson was elected the county's new District 2 Commissioner.
uWorkers started turning earth to build a $27 million expansion at Integris Canadian Valley Regional Hospital that doubled the facility's number of beds for patients. The hospital will have 18 emergency room beds, up from four rooms, and the facility's intensive care unit doubled in size from four beds to eight beds. Construction is planned to the south of the existing emergency room.
uConstruction started in November on a $37.7 million armory. The 180,000-square-foot facility is being built about 40 acres of industrially zoned property east of Sara Road and south of state Highway 152, near the Industrial Gasket facility.

2009
uVoters approved an almost $58 million bond package for Mustang schools, including a new 11th- and 12th-grade center, commons atrium and ninth-grade center at Mustang High School, renovations to existing high school facilities, a new Bronco stadium and classrooms at Mustang North Middle School and Mustang Creek Elementary. It was the largest bond issue ever considered in Mustang.
uMike Rutledge started 2009 as Mustang's chief building officer. He was promoted to interim community development director after Richard Rolison resigned and again to interim city manager after David Cockrell took a position in July in Texas. In October, City Council members hired Rutledge as city manager and discontinued a search with Strategic Government Resources Inc., in which they already paid $16,000 for the company's efforts.
“These past 28 years have been very rewarding both professionally and in our personal lives,” Cockrell said, as he announced his resignation. “We will be leaving many close friends and employees here at the city. We will always cherish this place.”
City Planner Melissa Helsel was promoted to interim community development director. Earlier in 2009, City Finance Director Brenda Wright resigned, and Sheila Cardwell became interim director.
uSalvation Army restarted service programs to Canadian County residents in July after aid was cut off in May when the local service unit was disbanded. The move came after leaders tried to break away from the United Way of Canadian County.
Nine volunteers have stepped forward to create a new Canadian County committee, which was reformed June 24. Yukon resident Willie Fudge is the new chairman. The treasurers are Helen Harwell of Yukon and Allen Miller of El Reno, and the Assistant Treasurer Patsy Fudge of Yukon.
Leslie Johnson of El Reno and Charles Owen of Mustang will organize bell ringers for the Christmas Red Kettle Campaign. Client intake will be organized by Yukon Sharing worker Barbara Hudson and Margaret Baustert and Jacki Carpenter of the Community Action Agency.