Oklahoma Journeys

Week of June 8, 2008

Capital moves to OKC, 1910

It’s a Capital decision this week on Oklahoma Journeys. Most Oklahomans know that Oklahoma City is the capital of our state. Not everybody, however, knows the complete story of how the site of our capital was chosen. That’s the story that lies somewhere between urban legend and reality, and it’s the topic of this week’s Oklahoma Journeys from the Oklahoma Historical Society.

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

There seems to be much myth and misinformation surrounding the decision to locate the Oklahoma capital in Oklahoma City, so this week we’re attempting to separate fact from fiction. During the territorial period from 1890 to 1907, the Territorial Capital was Guthrie. Here the Legislature met, the Governor was in office, and all the business of running a territory took place. The Enabling Act of 1906, the bill that allowed for statehood, specified that Guthrie should remain the capital until 1913. By 1910, however, it was obvious that other cities were surpassing Guthrie in size and importance, and some citizens began to push for a different location for the capital. Oklahoma had included in its constitution the initiative and referendum component, meaning that citizens could, through their own action, place a question on a state ballot and put it to a vote of the people. This was a rather progressive concept at the time and the question of the state capital became the first use of the initiative and referendum in Oklahoma.

It was in this week of 1910, on June 11, that the question in a special ballot was put before the citizens of Oklahoma,“Should the state capital be located at Guthrie, Shawnee or Oklahoma City?” When the counting was over Oklahoma City emerged victorious. Did Oklahoma City “steal” the capital away from Guthrie? Not really, citizens voted to move the capital, and the decision was obvious by the fairly large margin of victory. With the voting barely finalized, but obvious, the state seal was moved from Guthrie to Oklahoma City.

Not giving up without a fight, Guthrie claimed that although the capital could move to Oklahoma City, the Enabling Act required that that move wait until 1913. In the US Supreme Court, though, it was decided that the Enabling Act could not prevent a state from moving the capital location and that the move to Oklahoma City was legal. Slowly but steadily the various governmental agencies began moving south out of Guthrie with the state supreme court being the last to leave. The land that had been set aside in Guthrie for the capital building went unused and eventually was sold to the Masons. The fact that the state seal was moved without ceremony, and the fact that Guthrie officials were upset about the relocation, might help to explain the continued myth that Oklahoma City somehow “stole” the seal from Guthrie.

You can learn more about those early territorial days by visiting the Guthrie Museum complex, including the State Publishing Museum and the Carnegie Library, both in Guthrie, both operated by the Oklahoma Historical Society. Oklahoma Journeys is a production of the Oklahoma Historical Society, dedicated to collecting, preserving and sharing our state’s past. I’m Michael Dean.