Woodward is a city in and the county seat of Woodward County, Oklahoma, United States. It is the largest city in a nine-county area. The population was 12,133 at the time of the 2020 census. The area was historically occupied by the Kiowa, Comanche, Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes. European-American settlers established the town in 1887 after construction of the railroad to that point for shipping cattle to markets. The town was on the Great Western Cattle Trail.