A tour of the TB Ferguson Home and Museum

Yesterday I was happy to have participated in giving a tour of the TB Ferguson Home and Museum to a group of 9th graders from Watonga High School. They spent about an hour going through the house and hearing about the significant importance of TB Ferguson and his wife, Elva. They got to get a taste of the Fergusons' life in the early 1900's. I'll be posting my portion of the tour on my blog, watonganews.blogspot.com, about the Fergusons' participation in the early Land Runs for homesteaders looking for a place to call home. Dr. Joe Bryan gave an overview of the Fergusons and the home and museums and other volunteers offered insights into the Fergusons' life and business here in Watonga. There is a lot more historical information you can read about on the blog.
The nonprofit group of volunteers from Friends of Ferguson Home were so excited to work with Mrs. Hildebran, the high school history teacher, and her students and we hope they will all share their experience and encourage others to visit the Home.
The Ferguson Home and Museum is open for free tours by appointment only. Call 580-623-5069 and leave a message. See www.tbfergusonhome.org.

 

 

The Oklahoma Land Runs and the T.B. Fergusons.

Between 1889 and 1906, BEFORE Oklahoma became a state, unassigned land in Indian Territory was opened to settlement in five land runs, a land lottery, and a land auction. Immigrants from Ireland, England, France and Scotland were among the thousands of potential homesteaders who gathered to race across the open prairie to have a chance to claim a parcel of land. Those who established a claim would receive title to the property after five years if they lived on it and improved the plot.

The land runs have been described as chaotic, disorganized, violent, and difficult due to poor planning.

The first Land Run was held in 1889 and covered an area of what is now central Oklahoma. Tent cities emerged at the first settlements of Oklahoma City, Kingfisher, El Reno, Norman, Guthrie and Stillwater. Thomas Benton Ferguson, a newspaper man from Kansas, joined the first Oklahoma Land Run and staked a claim near Guthrie. He didn't stay there long and sold the claim.

The third land run opened Cheyenne-Arapaho lands. At high noon on April 19, 1892, a cannon boom signaled the beginning of a mad dash for homesteaders to stake their claims.   Watonga grew from a tent city in the midst of the Cheyenne-Arapaho Reservation and was named for Arapaho Chief Wa-ton-gha, whose name meant Black Coyote. In October 1892, after the Cheyenne and Arapaho land run, T.B. Ferguson, his wife Elva, and two sons moved to Watonga.  and began publishing a newspaper, The Watonga Republican, which is still in print today. 

T.B Ferguson also participated in the fourth land run in 1893  which covered the Cherokee Outlet. The 1893 land run has been described as even more chaotic than earlier runs due to inadequate enforcement by federal agencies. There was massive fraud, widespread suffering, and a number of deaths. The Fergusons stayed long enough to build a house. They went to Kansas for a visit and while they were gone, someone stole the house.  The lot was later sold.  

Edna Ferber, The author of the book Cimarron, stayed with Elva at the Ferguson home while writing the book. It was published in 1929.  Ms. Ferber used Elva’s recollections of territorial politics, Indians, outlaws, and frontier life in her book.  In 1931 the novel was made into a movie by RKO Studios, and Elva Ferguson served as a technical advisor for the newspaper print-shop scenes of the movie.

The 1931 movie depicts the chaos and dangers of the Oklahoma land runs. [from www.Okhistory.org]

The movie was nominated for seven Academy Awards, winning for Outstanding Production, Best Writing-Adaptation and Best Art Direction. The movie was remade in 1960 starring Glenn Ford.

Mrs. Ferguson published her own account of newspaper life in early Oklahoma, entitled They Carried The Torch: The Story of Oklahoma's Pioneer Newspapers.  Both books, Cimarron and They Carried the Torch, are available in our local library.

There are maps on the website www.nationalcowboymuseum.org showing the areas covered by each of the land runs.

/Linda Barrett