Press Release
July 25, 2019
Contact: Sara Werneke
State Historic Preservation Office, Oklahoma Historical Society
Office: 405-522-4478
Fax: 405-522-0816
swerneke@okhistory.org
www.okhistory.org/shpo
New Oklahoma National Register Listing
OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma Historical Society, State Historic Preservation Office (OKSHPO) is pleased to announce the newest National Register of Historic Places listing for Oklahoma. The National Register of Historic Places is our nation’s official list of properties significant in our past.
The Hotel Muskogee, erected during the years 1922–1923 and opened in 1923 at 26 West Broadway (on the northeast corner of West Broadway and North Main) in Muskogee is locally significant under Criterion A in the area of Social History for the years 1923–1969. It represents a pattern of development in providing services to a specific group of people—commercial travelers—as a socially stratified lodging industry developed within the American economy from the early 20th century into the post–World War II era. Within that pattern, the building illustrates the rise and fall of commercial travelers’ hotels for male sales representatives involved in manufacturing and wholesale distribution. It also illustrates the gendered nature of a growing “business culture” in America. From the mid-1920s through the 1940s, the Hotel Muskogee represented the link between the nation’s commerce and Muskogee’s commerce, as well as the segregation of the genders in the business world. The building retains a high degree of integrity of location and setting, though downtown Muskogee has reduced in size and prominence since 1923. The hotel’s design, materials and workmanship have seen little alteration except in the first story’s south and west elevations, and the building reflects the feeling and association of a traveler’s rest stop in an urban environment.
The State Historic Preservation Office is a division of the Oklahoma Historical Society. The mission of the Oklahoma Historical Society is to collect, preserve and share the history and culture of the state of Oklahoma and its people. Founded in 1893 by members of the Territorial Press Association, the OHS maintains museums, historic sites and affiliates across the state. Through its research archives, exhibits, educational programs and publications the OHS chronicles the rich history of Oklahoma. For more information about the OHS, please visit www.okhistory.org.
###
Editor’s Note: Photographs to accompany the story can be acquired by contacting Sara Werneke at the Oklahoma State Historic Preservation Office at swerneke@okhistory.org.
