Oklahoma Journeys
Week of December 20, 2008
Christmas in the New State
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An $85,000 fire destroyed the administration building at the University of Oklahoma; William Jennings Bryan spoke to a crowd of more than 2,000 people in Oklahoma City; Oklahoma’s blind senator, Thomas Gore, announced that he’ll run for a full six-year term; and the weather for Christmas Day fair and warm, highs in the 40s. Those were the stories making news as Oklahoma prepared to celebrate its first Christmas as a state on Oklahoma Journeys from the Oklahoma History Center.
From the Oklahoma History Center, this is Oklahoma Journeys. I’m Michael Dean.
Oklahoma was barely a month old as the 46th state as Christmas 1907 approached, and there was plenty of news from around the Sooner State that Christmas. The afternoon of December 20th, just four hours after classes had been dismissed, fire destroyed the administration building at the University of Oklahoma. Newspaper accounts told the story. Sweeping through the corridors of freshly coated oil, as if fanned by a demon, and within four hours after classes had been dismissed for the Christmas holidays, fire caused by a gasoline stove explosion destroyed the administration hall. Damage to the building and its contents was estimated at $85,000. A newspaper account said that heroic work by university students and citizens of Norman saved the nearby Carnegie Library containing more than $200,000 worth of books.
Christmas Eve, the newspapers announced the appearance of William Jennings Bryan in Oklahoma City. He spoke to more than 2,000 people jammed into the auditorium downtown. Bryan arrived in Oklahoma City over the Santa Fe train from Wichita, Kansas, where he had spoke the previous night. When the train stopped in Guthrie, he was joined by Governor Haskell and all of the state’s leaders. The large crowd heard Bryan speak on the truths of religion in a lecture titled “The Prince of Peace.”
The state’s lawyers association met in Guthrie. More than 150 lawyers were in attendance and heard Senator Thomas P. Gore announce his intentions to run for a full six-year term. Gore, along with Robert L. Owen, were the first two U.S. senators elected from Oklahoma. Because senate terms were staggered, Gore was elected to a two-year term. In announcing he would run for a full six-year term, he told the audience, “My friends, I am your servant in Washington. You are not mine. You are my master. I am not yours. At any and all times I am at your service in Washington.”
Around the state, in McAlester, the county attorney announced that the Sunday before Christmas would be observed, in his words, “in strict Puritan fashion.” Only drug stores, restaurants and hotels would be allowed to open their doors on Sunday.
In El Reno the county attorney announced that “spiked punch,” which had been a part of open house News Year celebrations for the past 15 years, would play its usual role in 1908, but his decree was that the spike must be left out of the punch. In sports it was announced the Shawnee football team will play the team from Wilburton at League Park. Both teams are in good condition according to the report, and a good game is promised.
The weather Bureau reported that Oklahomans would be greeted with fair skies and slightly warmer weather on Christmas Day 1907 with highs around the state in the 40s.
Those were the stories making news Christmas week in 1907. They were gleaned from the newspaper archives at the Oklahoma History Center, NE 23rd Street, 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.