Oklahoma Journeys

Week of October 24, 2009

Anton Classen's Birthday

He was a lawyer, edited a newspaper, donated land for the first normal school in Oklahoma Territory in Edmond, and became one of the busiest home builders in building Oklahoma City when that city was growing by leaps and bounds. We say happy birthday to Anton Classen on Oklahoma Journeys from the Oklahoma History Center.

From the Oklahoma History Center, this is Oklahoma Journeys. I’m Michael Dean.

In Oklahoma City there is Classen Drive, Classen Boulevard, Classen High School and Northwest Classen High School. But over time, we seem to have forgotten just who Classen was.

He was Anton Classen, and he was born on October 8, 1861, in Illinois. Named for his German-born father, Classen received a common school education in Illinois then studied law at the University of Michigan. Two years after graduating from law school, he made the 1889 land run into the Unassigned Lands, living for a brief period of time in Guthrie. That town had too many lawyers, so he moved to nearby Edmond. While practicing law, Classen edited of the Edmond Sun newspaper and donated the land for Oklahoma Territory's first normal school to be located at Edmond.

In 1897 Classen was appointed by President William McKinley as receiver in the U.S. Land Office in Oklahoma City. Classen quickly involved himself in the development and beautification of the Oklahoma City. Speculating in land, he bought farm land next to the city limits and organized numerous housing additions, the first being Highland Park Addition (now Heritage Hills) established in 1900. To enhance the lots he planted trees and set aside land for parks. In 1902 he and John Shartel organized the Metropolitan Railway Company (later the Oklahoma City Railway Company), the city’s first street car system that benefitted their real estate interests because the lines connected their additions to downtown Oklahoma City.

In 1899 Classen served as president of the Oklahoma City Commercial Club (later the Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce), was instrumental in getting city streets paved, and in promoting Oklahoma City as the location for Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders annual reunion in 1900. A Methodist, he helped organize the University Development Company, through which the building of Epworth University (now Oklahoma City University) was financed. He also served on the university's board of trustees. His many real estate interests were transferred to the Classen Company in 1902, the same year that he opened the University and Marquette additions. In association with the Oklahoma Industrial Company, Classen promoted the establishment of a meat-packing firm in the stockyards and enticed a Chicago meat packing company to locate in Oklahoma City. That was the beginning of what became known as "Packingtown."

At the turn of the twenty-first century Classen Boulevard and Classen School of Advanced Studies (the former Classen High School) in Oklahoma City remained as tributes to one of the city's first prominent developers. During the years his company was building homes and running the streetcar system, Oklahoma City’s population grew by over a two hundred percent. Oklahoma City just wouldn’t be what it is today had it not been for Anton Classen, born on October 8, 1861.

You can learn more about the early history of Oklahoma City by visiting the Research Library at the Oklahoma History Center, NE 23rd just east of the state capitol in Oklahoma City. Oklahoma Journeys is a production of the Oklahoma History Center, dedicated to collecting, preserving, and sharing our state’s past. I’m Michael Dean.