Oklahoma Journeys

Week of October 21, 2007

One hundred years ago this week Territorial Governor Frank Frantz, Governor-elect and Mrs. Haskell and a judge left the territory on a trip for Washington to deliver the state constitution to President Theodore Roosevelt.

In this week of October 1907 the territory was only three weeks from statehood. Governor-elect Haskell and Territorial Governor Frantz left Oklahoma City to take the state constitution to President Roosevelt in Washington. Oklahoma City began the campaign to move the state capitol, and Fort Reno might have been taken over by the Oklahoma National Guard.

Those were the stories making news 100 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.

One of the provisions of the enabling act of 1906 for the territory to achieve statehood involved the state constitution. It had to be approved by a popular vote of the people, then the final version of the constitution and certificate of the vote cast had to be delivered to the president in Washington.

The election had been held on September 17 and the constitution had been overwhelmingly approved. On the day after the election many believed the territory would become a state within two or three weeks. But now a month and a half had passed. There were several reasons for the delay. Among the reasons, the election board was delaying certifying the results. Governor-elect Haskell took the board to task for the delay, telling reporters on October 20 the canvassing board assured him their work would be completed by the 18. “This was not done,” he added.

Then, when the certification of the election was complete it took a week for the final copy to be completed. Meanwhile, President Roosevelt left Washington on a vacation that lasted 24 days. President Theodore Roosevelt visited 11 states and gave a number of speeches, and didn’t return to Washington until October 23. The next day, October 24, Territorial Governor Frank Frantz, Governor-elect Haskell and Mrs. Haskell, and Judge W. H. H. Clayton boarded an east-bound train for Washington to complete the requirements of the Enabling Act.

On October 24 the Shawnee Herald newspaper editorialized this question: “Will Oklahoma City be a candidate for the state capitol of Oklahoma?” The answer was this: the Daily Oklahoman wrote that Oklahoma City should get into the capitol running when the time comes, but the Oklahoman reminded readers that the constitution recently adopted fixed the capitol at Guthrie for the next five or six years, then added “therefore it is scarcely worthwhile to discuss it.”

Oklahoma adjutant general Alvin Niles returned from a meeting at the war department in Washington on October 23, 1907 with news that Fort Reno might be turned over to the National Guard, but that final action would not be taken until the Army abandoned the fort.

You can learn more about the events leading up to statehood by visiting the Research Library at the Oklahoma History Center on NE 23rd street just east of the state capitol. 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.