VTG BAPTIST HARDWARE SPORTING GOOD DISTRIBUTOR SHAWNEE OKLAHOMA OLD ALMANAC BOOK

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Shawnee is a city in Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 31,543 in 2014, a 4.9 percent increase from 28,692 at the 2000 census. [The city is part of the Oklahoma City-Shawnee Combined Statistical Area; it is also the county seat of Pottawatomie County and the principal city of the Shawnee Micropolitan Statistical Area.

With access to Interstate 40, Shawnee is about 45 minutes east of the attractions in downtown Oklahoma City. To the east and northeast, Shawnee is 112 miles from the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System which provides shipping barge access to the Gulf of Mexico.

The area surrounding Shawnee was settled after the American Civil War by a number of tribes that the federal government had removed to Indian Territory. The Sac and Fox originally were deeded land in the immediate area but were soon followed by the Kickapoo, Shawnee, and Pottawatomi Indians. These federally recognized tribes continue to reside today in and around Shawnee.

Over the course of the 1870s, Texas cattle drovers pushed their herds across Indian Territory; there were four major trails, with the West Shawnee trail crossing near present-day Kickapoo and Main streets. With the cattle drives, railroads were constructed through the territory, with the government forcing tribes to cede rights of way.

In addition, white settlers pressed for more land; they were encroaching on territories previously reserved by treaty to Native Americans. In 1871 a Quaker mission was established here. (The current Mission Hill Hospital is located near that site, now occupied by an historic building.) That first missionary, Joseph Newsom, opened a school in 1872. By 1876 a post office and trading post had been established a quarter mile west of the mission at what became known as Shawnee Town.

Beginning in April 1889, the United States government succumbed to the pressure that had built to open the tribal lands to white settlement. It was also making policy to encourage Native Americans to assimilate into the mainstream society. By allocating communal lands to individual households and extinguishing tribal land claims, Congress was preparing the territory for eventual statehood. The end of communal holdings was also intended to be the end of traditional tribal government, to be replaced with leaders appointed by the federal government.

The Dawes Act allocated the tribes' communal lands into 160-acre plots to individual tribal members believing it would support a family farm. Tribal members were registered with records known as the Dawes Rolls established for each tribe. The government declared that tribal land in excess of what was allocated to member households was "surplus" and available for settlement by non-Native Americans. It allocated that surplus land through land runs, essentially races by which people staked claims on land. Some tribes lost parts of their communal lands, disrupting traditional governments and practices.

The first Land Run took place in the central area of Oklahoma Territory in 1889 known as the Unassigned Land. Then in the Land Run of 1891 onto surplus land of the Sac and Fox, Citizen Pottawatomie and Shawnee, just east of the original run, was opened for settlement. four settlers (Etta B. Ray, Henry G. Beard, James T. Farrall, and Elijah A. Alley) each staked a quarter section in the proposed city of Brockway. Following an all-night discussion among early settlers who had their own ideas for the town's name, a compromise was reached. They named the town Shawnee after the tribe that had been living there. A second run, onto the Kickapoo Land to the west of the original, was held in 1895, adding more acreage added to Pottawtomie County

Henry G. Beard claimed his quarter section of land in 1892. In the early spring of 1895, Mr. Beard entered into an agreement with the promoters of the Choctaw, Oklahoma and Gulf Railroad Company, then extending its line from Memphis, Tennessee, to Amarillo, Texas, to build through his farm. In consideration he gave the railway company one-half his claim of one hundred and sixty acres. The road was built through his farm, and the City of Shawnee was founded on July 4, 1895.

For the first few years of the new century, Shawnee was undergoing a boom that came close to keeping pace with that of Oklahoma City. Located in the heart of cotton, potato, and peach country, Shawnee quickly became an agricultural center. By 1902, there were seven cotton gins in the immediate area and two cotton compresses. Between March 1901 and March 1902, 375 railroad cars of cotton product were shipped out of Shawnee, along with 150,000 bales of cotton. Feed stores, wagon yards, an overall factory, and an assortment of other businesses designed to serve the farmers as they brought their crops to market arose in Shawnee.

The population grew from 250 to 2,500 from 1892 to 1896. In 1903-1904 the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway and Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway extended service to town, after being given land inducements from Henry Beard and James Farrall.

Oklahoma Baptist University opened in 1910. Its first building, Shawnee Hall, was a gift from the citizens. St. Gregory's College (now St. Gregory's University) relocated to Shawnee from Sacred Heart in 1915, where it had been associated with a Catholic mission and school.

In 1930, voters elected to move the county seat of Pottawatomie County from Tecumseh to Shawnee. The courthouse was built with New Deal funding, and opened in 1935.

Historic Downtown
Downtown Shawnee is an excellent example of many Main Street communities that emerged in the late 19th century as part of the westward movement. Choosing not to organize its activity around a central square, as did many towns in New England, the South, and upper-Midwest, Shawnee represents a distinctly western model of urban development. Depending on railroad lines for its economic health, Shawnee's Main Street became the focal point for commercial, manufacturing, and entertainment activity beginning in 1895, four years after the region was opened for European-American settlement when authorities staged a land run.

Competing with Oklahoma City as the hub of central Oklahoma, Shawnee developed a broad base of economic activity. As late as 1910, city leaders hoped that one more rail line, a meat packing plant, and the state capital might be just enough to surge ahead of its rival 30 miles to the west. However, Shawnee came in third in the statewide election to determine the capital. It lost both the railway and the meatpacking plant to Oklahoma City. The setbacks resulted in Shawnee being a small city built with services and retail developed around the activity of Main Street.

The railroad industry led the early strength of the economy. The Santa Fe Train Depot (still extant), with its unique architecture, serves as a visible reminder of the city's dependence on the train. During the early 20th century, the Rock Island Railroad and the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad both had depots in the city. Shawnee's major employer was the Rock Island Railroad, which had located its main southwestern repair shops in the city in 1896. After nearly 40 years, the railroad moved its shops to El Reno in 1937, but two major buildings remain. The Santa Fe Railroad also had repair shops just south of the city. By 2000 only a large concrete tower remained, and it was demolished that year. Some of the roundhouse buildings are now used by the city for storage and technical repair.

Serving as the region's agricultural hub during much of the first quarter of the 20th century, Shawnee provided the market for farmers to sell their crops. Cotton was a major crop and Main Street was often lined with bales; mule sellers, peanut vendors, and peach growers. The building reputed to be the largest cottonseed oil mill in the Southwest is still extant; this same building later was adapted as a peanut factory to process another commodity crop. The Shawnee Flouring Mill, long integral to the city, still dominates the skyline of downtown.

The buildup of industry and the armed forces for the Second World War, and in particular the construction of Tinker Air Force Base east of Oklahoma City, benefited Shawnee's economy. At various times, Tinker has employed as many as 3,000 Shawnee residents. After the war, three major manufacturing concerns were important to Shawnee's economy. Jonco, Inc., manufactured aviation products and employed nearly 1,000 in 1958. The Sylvania Corporation produced vacuum tubes and electrical parts in its Shawnee plant and employed another 1,000. The Shawnee Milling Company, which had rebuilt after fires in 1934 and 1954, employs nearly 300 workers.

Also continuing as a nationally known company which began in 1909 is Round House Overalls. Recognized as the oldest operating manufacturing company in the state turns out more than 300,000 denim products shipped all over the world. Alvin S. Nucholls established the factory to meet the needs of the overwhelming population working for the railroads in the early days of Shawnee. The Antosh family has owned the company since 1964.

Sonic, a well-known drive-in fast food chain, originated in Shawnee. The 3000th Sonic Drive-In is also in Shawnee. Troy N. Smith, Sr. and Joe McKimmey owned the Log House Restaurant and a drive-up root beer stand called the Top Hat. In 1959 Smith and McKimmey went their separate ways and Smith opened a hamburger drive-in down Harrison Street installing a "call-in" system rather than the carhops. He dubbed his drive-in the Sonic. Both places were in existence until a fire in the Top Hat in the mid-1960s forced closure. McKimmey built the Log House Restaurant into a popular steak house and Smith sold franchises to the Sonic and has since expanded into a national drive-in food chain with now over 3,500 establishments.

Beginning in the 1970s, Shawnee's economy improved with the addition of a number of industrial plants, including Eaton Corp. and TDK north of the city; they added approximately 1,000 jobs to the community base.

In 1980 Main Street was dominated by small retail establishments in which 80 percent are housed in buildings built prior to statehood in 1907. The majority of these buildings have had their façades altered to adjust to the changing tastes in the 20th century although one block (between Philadelphia and Union streets) remains substantially unaltered reminding of how life on Main Street functioned prior to statehood.

One block west at Broadway and Main the building originally constructed as The Mammoth Department Store, has been unaltered very little. The building once housed Montgomery Ward and is now Neal's Home Furnishings. Before World War II, Main Street also had numerous drugstores and soda fountains serving as gathering places for young people. Today, Owl Drug, in a building operated as a drugstore since 1895, retains many old fixtures and appears much as it did during the 20th century.

Shawnee's first sky scraper, the Hilton Phillips Hotel, later known as the Aldridge, was built in 1928 at the peak of the wealth and growth generated by the oil boom of the 1920s. This stimulated development of the four-story Masonic Temple Office Building, constructed in 1929 across the 9th street from the Aldridge.

Main Street had a number of entertainment facilities. A convention hall attracted well-known celebrities of the 1910s and 1920s, such as Sarah Bernhardt but was razed by 1930 for a bus company barn. An opera house on Market and Main was the site of many memorable events. The early movies theaters are now gone except the Ritz Theater, which was the oldest continuously operating theater in Oklahoma until the theater's closure in 1989. It continues to be used for "live shows." The Bison Theater building remains but after being used as an antique shop it's now empty. Downtown Shawnee has lost many buildings of historical value, but still retains a significant number of resources. These provide a living reminder of the retail and human scale of Main Street in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Santa Fe Depot, Located at 614 E. Main in Shawnee is a unique railroad depot made of limestone blocks two to three-feet deep. With a 60 ft. turret, it takes on the slight appearance of a castle, contrasting with the surrounding architecture. It was built in 1902 and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. After operations of the Santa Fe Railroad ceased in 1977 the City of Shawnee took over the depot property. It was assigned to the Pottawatomie County Historical Society which began restoration of this depot in 1979, after it had stood vacant for two decades. The building was remodeled into a railroad and countywide museum, which opened on May 30, 1982. It contains numerous historical artifacts from the settlement of Shawnee, and also contains railroad memorabilia and a gift shop. The Board of Directors of the museum are currently in the process of erecting a new building directly north of the old depot. The 100+ year old depot will then house railroad artifacts while other items will be displayed in the new area.

Located midway between Shawnee and Tecumseh, Benson Park served the recreational needs of Shawnee residents for about 20 years. It had a stop on the interurban streetcar that ran between the two towns to the park. Built by the railroad to encourage citizens to travel by rail it opened in 1907. The park had a lake for boating, an opera house, skating rink, roller coaster, large picnic areas and later a swimming pool known as The Plunge. The arrival of automobiles which most families could ten afford plus the financial distress in the late '20s forced closure soon after 1930 although the pool and the picnic areas were still briefly in use. As of 2016, the space that was once the park is on private property and occupied by a large pecan orchard.

In 1907 Oklahoma was admitted as a state and 8,024 people voted that the county seat moved to Shawnee while 5,027 wanted it to remain in Tecumseh. The case was appealed and the higher courts decided bribery might have figured into the election since Shawnee had offered use of property in Woodland Park as a site for the county court house. In 1911, the people of Pottawatomie County again voted to keep the county seat at Tecumseh, by a vote of 7,749 to 5,927.

In October 1930 some 6,700 signatures were collected on a petition to ask Governor William J. Holloway for a referendum on the site of the county seat. A special election was held December 18, and 12,800 voters, a record number, went to the polls. Shawnee won the necessary two-thirds majority by a 90-vote margin. A recount cut this to 11. Tecumseh filed suit, alleging election fraud relating to a $35,000 slush fund, Shawnee supporters providing liquor at the polls, college boys being allowed to vote, etc.

The Supreme Court came out in favored Shawnee. Until the mid-1930s, county officers contracted business in downtown Shawnee buildings. President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal helped fund construction of a new county courthouse in Shawnee which was built in Woodland Park. On July 6, 1935, Governor E.W. Marland dedicated the new building.

Sports
Shawnee has a rich sports history that reaches back before statehood. First reports of a town baseball team was in 1902. Since then there has been organized baseball from sandlot to minor league teams. In the early days businesses including the Rock Island shops and civic organizations promoted teams in the Twilight League. In 1929 and '30 Shawnee hosted a minor league farm club of the St. Louis Cardinals, the Robins as part of the Western Association. Several Robins went on to play MLB including Bob Klinger (Pirates), Ival Goodman (Reds, Cubs), Alfred "Lefty" Smith (Giants, Phillies, Indians), Ray Starr (Cardinals, Giants, Braves, Reds, Pirates, Cubs) and Fritz Ostermueller (Red Sox, Browns, Dodgers, Pirates) who was depicted in the Jackie Robinson film "42."

The Brooklyn Dodgers provided Shawnee with a Class D minor league in the Sooner State League from 1950 to 1957. The Hawks competed against McAlester, Ardmore, Pauls Valley, Lawton, Seminole and Sherman and Paris, Texas. The most well-known major leaguers to get his start with the Hawks was Don Demeter, a Dodger pitcher from Oklahoma City and Stan Williams (Dodgers, Yankees, Indians and Twins).

Shawnee also hosted some major leagues at Athletic Field (now called Memorial Park) in the 1930s. In 1937 the New York Giants and Cleveland Indians played a spring practice game. The event was brought to Shawnee because one of the Giants leading pitchers, Carl Hubbell, was from the nearby community of Meeker. The following year the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Chicago White Sox also played a game in Shawnee. Cy Blanton, who lived in Shawnee and had played for the Robins, and Paul and Loyd Waner from nearby McLoud, were also members of the Giants' squad.

At least 34 Major League Baseball players have connections to Shawnee, either by birth, or having played on a local team or lived in town at one time. Eighteen with ties to Shawnee have played professional football and ten local athletes have participated in pro basketball.

Shawnee High School has also had a colorful sports history. Records from as early as 1906 are found for football and baseball. Over the years the football team has won the state title three times, the most recent was in 2003. Several SHS grads have gone on to play NFL football over the years, most notedly Darrien Gordon, a 1989 grad, who played in three Super Bowls, one with the San Diego Chargers and two with the Denver Broncos. Just since the year 2000 SHS has won seven state championships, two in baseball, one in girls' basketball, two in boys' cross country, one in boys' track and one in girls' track. The high school provides excellent facilities with Jim Thorpe Stadium, Memorial Park, softball field and the Shawnee Performing Arts Center combo which includes a state-of-the art gym.

Shawnee offers youth sports of all variety either through the YMCA or the Shawnee Sports Association. There are also three golf courses, several tennis courts, two bowling alleys, Lion's Club baseball park and a softball complex at Firelake. Shawnee briefly hosted the Shawnee Warriors, a semi-pro football team that competed in the Oklahoma Metro Football League competing as the Millers, affiliated with the Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz, a minor league pro arena team that season.

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Early salvation for the city.
Written and Compiled by Clyde Wooldridge

Much had already been done to encourage the location of manufacturing plants and wholesale houses in the city after the establishment of the Choctaw, Oklahoma & Gulf Railroad in the city. However, another important step took place when Traffic Manager-Auditor of the line, J.F. Holden, announced another big move.

Much had already been done to encourage the location of manufacturing plants and wholesale houses in the city after the establishment of the Choctaw, Oklahoma & Gulf Railroad in the city. However, another important step took place when Traffic Manager-Auditor of the line, J.F. Holden, announced another big move.

“In order to assist the merchants of Shawnee, I have reconstructed our freight rates. The rates to Shawnee have been reduced as much as four cents in first and second classes and on beer; and cut by three cents on third class, and two cents on fourth class goods.”

He went on to say that these were “jobbers rates,” for which many outside territorial towns have vainly fought for some years past. This enabled Shawnee merchants and shippers to not only command the local trade for miles around, but immensely stimulate the location here of many wholesale houses that have long been anxious to remove to the Territory.

About this time in the fall of 1895, the first brick building was erected on Farrall and south Beard, which stood for many years until it was condemned and torn down. The first post office was housed in a little frame building situated on Farrall Street between Broadway and Beard, and the first Postmaster was J.V. Legg. The first real-estate office was located on Broadway and 8th. On January 1, 1895, snow was cleared away, trees cut down and sawed into blocks, which were used as foundation material for the new business houses which were owned and occupied by Mr. Bradley. The house was just one half block north of the real-estate office and just north of the Norwood Hotel.

Tecumseh had originally been selected by the federal government as the county seat of Pottawatomie County. However, Judge James H. Maxey, who owned a Bank in Tecumseh, accepted the office and selected a site for his bank on Broadway and 8th, the latter soon became Main Street.

The first school was held in a little frame building near where Washington school later stood. The next was a little brown frame building situated in Woodland Park. The park consisted of 11 acres that were set aside by the government as a permanent park when the town site was first laid out. In 1898, the first brick school was erected, which served both as an elementary and high school. The school was later called Central Ward school. In 1920, the building was torn down to give way for the Central Junior High School.

Shawnee’s first church was located on south Broadway, with Reverend Hiram Holt as the first minister. Early settlers said he preached for some time under a brush arbor. The South Methodist soon after had a building on south Broadway, where the cotton seed oil mill was later located. Every denomination was offered and given a free lot and they built structures of some kind. The Christian church on 7th and Philadelphia was one of the earliest churches of Shawnee.

The first church wedding in Shawnee was for Mr. and Mrs. George E. McKinnis and was solemnized at the Presbyterian church at 9th and Bell streets. The first child born in Shawnee was a daughter of the J. H. Wallace family. The first paper known as the Shawnee Chief was first published part-time in 1892, and was edited by Charles T. Bushfield.

In 1898, an unknown writer chose to list the names of several of the Pioneers of Shawnee. “Men and women who aided, some with money, some with labor, effort, some with both; in making Shawnee what she is today.” Although not exhaustive, the first listed were: J.H. Maxey, William S. Search, Willard Johnston, J.N. Mills, H.B. Dexter, all bankers, capitalist, and contractors. In the next category were: Henry G. Beard, William Regan, and C.N, Perrin, all enterprising real estate men and financiers. Another of equal importance included the hotel people, which would be headed by Mrs. L.J. Rudd, who hauled the lumber 40 miles to build and complete the Union Avenue Hotel, a large three-story building which was a credit to any city. Then the Hotel Holland, also a good three-story building was erected. Charles A. Scott, who also put up and burned the first kiln of brick ever burned in Shawnee. Out of it, H.B. Dexter took brick and erected the first brick residence built in Shawnee.

Locating the C.O.&G. Shops was the next move to make Shawnee a real live town; a growing city. The first contract to this end was made between a syndicate of Shawnee people, represented by H.B, Dexter and Oscar G. Lee, on the one hand, and the Choctaw Railroad on the other, about April, 1896. Though this was later amended and re-written, changed by first one party and then the other, it eventually led to the building of the finest railroad shop building in the southwest. The company shops were completed and a water plant sufficient to supply them with all water necessary for shops and the road engines necessary to move the great traffic developing on railway. The machinery was moved into Shawnee in 1898.

A.B. Carroll Jr. established his general merchandise store in the city in 1898, then enlarged it into a regular department store in a 60 x 100-foot building at Main and Beard. Here he had the largest shoe department in the entire Territory with over 10,000 pairs in the store. Men’s dress shoes sold for two dollars.

There were two brick yards in Shawnee, manufacturing bricks before statehood. One was near the future location of the Santa Fe Depot. The other was on south Beard Street near the north bank of the river. The largest Livery Stable at the turn of the century was owned by Fred Carey. His fancy rigs met all trains and was the forerunner to the modern taxi.

At the turn of the century there were six cotton gins in Shawnee. One owned by a Mr. Daniels. Thornton Bishop, father of Charley Bishop, had a large livery stable near the depot.

C.J. Benson, a graduate lawyer from Georgetown University, was formerly cashier of the Tecumseh State Bank before coming to Shawnee in 1895, with the Shawnee State Bank. He remained with them until it changed to Shawnee National Bank in 1898. He was also appointed the first County School Superintendent of Pottawatomie County in 1891.

Willard Johnston homesteaded in the county in 1891, one mile west and one north of Burnett. He was elected the first County Clerk of Pottawatomie County, taking office in 1893. Johnston was the first Treasurer of the Shawnee Board of Education. Later he owned interests in several banks in Oklahoma, including the Bank of Commerce at McLoud, and later was President of the Union State Bank and the State National Bank.

The Shawnee State Bank was organized in 1895, with H. T. Douglas as President and changed to Shawnee National Bank in 1898, with Douglas remaining as president and James M. Aydelotte as vice-president. Judge William S. Pendleton came to Oklahoma in 1894, then to Shawnee in 1898, and was Probate Judge of the county in 1900. Later, he was a law partner in the firm of Pendleton, Abernathy and Howell. Frank P. Sterns first came to Shawnee in November 1894. He had a general store and was a building contractor, employing over 50 men. In 1898, he was Postmaster of Shawnee, and in 1907, was elected Mayor.

The Shawnee Roller Mills was owned by a Mr. Woodward. The three-story Dixie Hotel was on the southeast corner of Main and Philadelphia, and the Hotel Burt, another three-story hotel was later known as the Willard Hotel, then the Walcott, on Union and Main. J. M. Meeks had the first butcher shop in town, then located where the Baptist Hardware company was later located

George E. McKinnis moved from Tecumseh in 1895, and was principal of Shawnee School and superintendent the following year in 1896. He was vice-president of the State National Bank of Shawnee and many years later organized a Building and Loan association in 1912. Later it was known as the First Federal Savings and Loan Association. He was appointed and served as Postmaster for four years starting 1903.

During this era, all male teachers, musicians, and piano tuners were called “Professors,” and the auctioneers gave themselves a fictitious and unearned pseudo-title of “Colonel.” Two candy and ice cream soda shops were opened, called the Palace of Sweets and the Busy Bee.

 

 

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