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Your search returned 17 results.

Battle of Round Mountain

Payne County
Location: one mile north and 1/4 mile west of intersection of OK-18 and OK-51, four miles west of Yale
Material: Granite
Topics: Military, Government, American Indians, Westward Expansion 1803–1861

Between the landmark known as Round Mountain (Twin Mounds) to the south and a camp on Salt Creek two miles northwest, the first battle of the Civil War in Oklahoma was fought between a group of loyal Creeks under Opothleyahola and Confederate forces led by Colonel Douglas H. Cooper. Some scholars believe this engagement took place in Tulsa County.



Booth Number One

Payne County
Location: just west of North Perkins Road in Stillwater
Topics: Government, Land Openings, Settlement Patterns, Territorial Period 1861–1907

The federal government established this booth where thousands registered for the opening of the Cherokee Outlet on September 16, 1893.



Boundary Line 1889 and 1893

Payne County
Location: at intersection of Ranch Street and Washington Avenue in Stillwater
Material: Aluminum
Topics: Government, Land Openings, Settlement Patterns, Territorial Period 1861–1907, Agriculture

From this line, tens of thousands of settlers raced to stake 160-acre homesteads in the Unassigned Lands in the land run of 1889. This was also the boundary for the opening of the Cherokee Outlet four years later in 1893.



David Payne

Payne County
Location: at grave site of David Payne in Boomer Lake Park at Washington and Lakeview in Stillwater
Topics: Land Openings, Settlement Patterns, Social/Cultural

David Payne was the father of the Oklahoma Boomer movement. After his death, he was buried in Kansas. His remains were moved to Stillwater in January 1995.



Irving's Castle

Payne County
Location: on Mehan Road northeast of Ripley (DAR)
Sponsored by: Daughters of the American Revolution
Topics: Westward Expansion 1803–1861, Arts, Natural Resources

Writer Washington Irving camped here on October 20, 1832, in his tour of the American prairie. In his description of the campground, Irving wrote, "It reminded me of the ruin of some Moorish castle, crowning a height in the midst of a lonely Spanish landscape.



Jim Thorpe

Payne County
Location: in Jim Thorpe Municipal Park in Yale
Topics: American Indians, Social/Cultural, Folklife, Territorial Period 1861–1907

In 1912, Jim Thorpe won both the decathlon and pentathlon in the Olympics and was praised for his athletic prowess by the entire world. He played both professional baseball and football and is considered one of the greatest athletes of American sports history.



Jim Thorpe

Payne County
Location: at 706 East Boston in Yale
Material: Aluminum
Topics: American Indians, Social/Cultural, Folklife, Territorial Period 1861–1907

This was the home of the Thorpe family beginning in 1917.



Last Boomer Town

Payne County
Location: on OK-40 near south edge of Stillwater
Material: Aluminum
Topics: Land Openings, Settlement Patterns, Social/Cultural, Military, Territorial Period 1861–1907

Boomers were followers of David L. Payne, who insisted upon the opening of central Oklahoma to settlement. Near here, 300 armed Boomers made their last stand for settlement of the Oklahoma country when they surrendered to US cavalry troops. The Boomers had built log cabins and dugouts and founded the town of Stillwater on December 12, 1884.



Oil in the Cushing-Drumright Area

Payne County
Location: at intersection of Adams and Harrison in Cushing
Material: Granite
Topics: Petroleum, Natural Resources, Industry/Business, Urban Development, Government, Mass Communication

In March 1912, Tom Slick and C. B. Shafer discovered oil nearby. The Cushing field became one of history's greatest oil finds. For eight years, it led the nation in oil production. The oil discovery turned Cushing into a boomtown. The post office of Cushing was established November 10, 1891. The town was named for Marshall Cushing, private secretary to Postmaster General John Wanamaker. In 1919, the Cushing-Drumright area accounted for 17 percent of the nation's oil production.



Oklahoma A&M College

Payne County
Location: on South Main Street at south edge of Stillwater
Material: Aluminum
Topics: Education, Territorial Period 1861–1907, Government

The college, now Oklahoma State University, was established December 25, 1890, by the Oklahoma territorial legislature. The prairie was broken for establishment of an experimental farm in 1891.



Oklahoma Museum of Higher Education

Payne County
Location: on Oklahoma State University campus in Stillwater
Topics: Government, Social/Cultural, Recreational/Service

The Oklahoma Museum of Higher Education is housed in Old Central, built in 1894, the first permanent building on the OSU campus. It is the nation's only museum devoted to a state's higher education history.



Outlaw Battle

Payne County
Location: at intersection of OK-51 and Bethel Road east of Stillwater
Topics: Government, Folklife, Territorial Period 1861–1907

Three US marshals and two citizens were killed in a September 1, 1893, gunfight between lawmen and members of the Dalton-Doolin outlaw gang. It was the beginning of the end of the notorious outlaw gang.



Ripley's Oak Park Cemetery

Payne County
Location: southeast of Ripley



Stillwater

Payne County
Location: at Sixth Avenue and Perkins Road in Stillwater
Topics: Land Openings, Settlement Patterns, Social/Cultural, Territorial Period 1861–1907, Urban Development

Boomers, led by William C. Couch, settled nearby on Stillwater Creek in December 1884. When ordered to leave, they defied the US cavalry. In his wire for reinforcements, Lieutenant Mathias Day said, "They call this place Stillwater," the first recorded reference to a town in Oklahoma Territory. The Boomers departed, but Stillwater was settled in the first hour of the Land Run on April 22, 1889.



Turkey Track Ranch

Payne County
Location: at junction of OK-99 and OK-33
Material: Aluminum
Topics: Ranching, Transportation, Territorial Period 1861–1907

During the height of the Texas trail drives through Oklahoma, this ranch, owned by James Jerome and Leslie Combs, was used to fatten cattle before their final trip to markets in Kansas. Roundups were held on the present site of Cushing.



Washington Irving

Payne County
Location: in the Jim Thorpe Municipal Park in Yale
Topics: Arts, Westward Expansion 1803–1861, Folklife

Washington Irving camped nearby during his tour of the prairies in 1832.



Wild Horse Creek-Washington Irving

Payne County
Location: nine miles south of Stillwater, four miles west, and one mile north of OK-33
Topics: Westward Expansion 1803–1861, Arts, Folklife

Writer Washington Irving and his party camped on Wild Horse Creek during his tour of the prairies in 1832.



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If you have questions, please contact:
Matthew Pearce
Oklahoma Historical Society
800 Nazih Zuhdi Drive
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
405-522-8659
matthew.pearce@history.ok.gov