Press Release
October 7, 2024
Contact: Shea Otley
State Historic Preservation Office, Oklahoma Historical Society
Office: 405-522-4485
shea.otley@history.ok.gov
www.okhistory.org/shpo
Free State Historic Preservation Office Webinar to Focus on History of Chapman Ranch
OKLAHOMA CITY — The State Historic Preservation Office will hold a free webinar on the history of the Chapman Ranch in Texas on Tuesday, October 22, at noon. Rick Mitchell, historic preservation planner at Mead & Hunt, will be the featured speaker. Mitchell has more than 30 years of experience in preservation and cultural resources management.
The Chapman family – P. A. and Roxana Chapman, along with their children and grandchildren – are well known for their role in the oil and gas industry and as prominent philanthropists in Oklahoma and Texas. Less known is their significance as innovative agriculturalists in both states. John Chapman operated the family’s Chapman Ranch, established in 1919 in Nueces County, Texas. Across over 34,000 acres, its founders laid out a centralized operation with a company town and gridiron pattern of uniform tenant farmsteads. Chapman Ranch operations ended by the mid-20th century, and only a few original buildings are still extant, including the company headquarters, two schools, a cotton gin and several tenant farmhouses.
At the same time, John’s brother Fred and other family members purchased 20,000 acres in south-central Oklahoma, including what became known as Chapman Farms or Washita Farms near Tishomingo. Washita Farms followed a very similar development pattern, with a central store and headquarters, schools, crop storage, processing facilities and numerous identical tenant farmsteads. Early corporate farms like the Chapman enterprises played a vital role in the region’s agricultural, economic, labor and social history.
A recent roadway widening project was proposed to pass through the Chapman Ranch area. The Texas Department of Transportation needed to determine whether the current landscape still conveyed this important story, facing the challenges of identifying an appropriate scale for evaluation and assessing the significance and integrity of vast historic agricultural landscapes that are far more than what meets the eye.
The webinar is free, but registration is required. For more information, contact Shea Otley, CLG coordinator and Oklahoma Centennial Farm & Ranch coordinator, at 405-522-4485 or shea.otley@history.ok.gov.
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.
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