Oklahoma Journeys
Week of October 28, 2007
This Week 100 Years Ago
One hundred years ago this week…President Theodore Roosevelt announced when he would sign the statehood proclamation…the rumor is that Bat Masterson will be the next U.S. Marshall in the territory...and the State’s Baptists meet in Ardmore to decide where to locate their college. Those were the stories making the news in the twin territories one hundred years ago this week…on Oklahoma Journeys from the Oklahoma Historical Society.
From the Oklahoma Historical Society, this is Oklahoma Journeys: Celebrating Our Centennial. I’m Michael Dean.
For several weeks the newly elected state government in waiting had been asking President Theodore Roosevelt to announce the date and time that he would sign the proclamation of statehood. One hundred years ago last week, Governor-Elect Charles N. Haskell and Territorial Governor Frank Frantz journeyed to Washington to deliver the final version of the state’s constitution along with the certificate verifying the vote in which it was approved overwhelmingly by voters in the two territories. Those documents had to be delivered to Congress and to the president as the final step toward statehood.
One hundred years ago this week, on October 29, 1907, the news arrived from Washington. President Roosevelt will issue the proclamation admitting the State of Oklahoma to the union on Saturday, November 16, 1907, at 10 a.m. Eastern Time. Roosevelt was not enthusiastic over the terms of the constitution, but he said he regarded it within the terms of the Enabling Act, and that he would sign the constitution.
More than 700 delegates from around the twin territories and many visitors from Texas gathered this week one hundred years ago for the Oklahoma State Baptists convention in Ardmore. Rev. J. A. Scott of Oklahoma City presided, along with other officers chosen including: W. W. Chancellor of McAlester, Dr. Lee from Rock, Oklahoma, W. P. Blake, Rev. H. L. Holt from Stillwater, and J. L. Walker from Mangum. The major topic was to decide on a location for the state Baptist College. Among the towns vying for the college were Lawton, Chickasha, Shawnee, Darlington, and Hobart. Shawnee was the eventual location.
On November 2, 1907 the question was this: Will Masterson to be created U.S. Marshall? The Oklahoman’s correspondent in Washington reported seeing W. B. “Bat” Masterson walk into the White House accompanied by his New York City editor. The reporter noted that while he was appointed deputy marshal in New York, “he has never done a stroke of work, except to write pugilistics for a yellow newspaper.” Then he added that it appears Bat Masterson will be the next U.S. Marshal in the Eastern District.
In both territories, sheriffs and county attorneys were struggling with enforcing prohibition once statehood was declared. In Oklahoma County, County Attorney J. H. Reardon declared, “The saloons of Oklahoma County must close immediately on the declaration of statehood.This prohibition clause of the constitution goes into effect the instant that Oklahoma is admitted to the union, according to my judgment and is enforceable from the first.”Seventy-six saloons in Oklahoma City and about 500 statewide closed once Oklahoma became a state.
You can learn more about the events surrounding statehood one hundred years ago by visiting the Territorial Capitol Museum and the State Capitol Publishing Museum, both in Guthrie. And make plans now to attend the centennial celebration in Guthrie on Nov. 16th.
Oklahoma Journeys: Celebrating Our Centennial is a production of the Oklahoma Historical Society, dedicated to collecting, preserving and sharing our state’s past.
I’m Michael Dean.