Muskogee-area Centennial timeline

May 24, 2007 12:27 pm

— 1000 A.D.
Mound Builders build ceremonial mounds at present day Okay, Wagoner and Muskogee.
Circa 1780
Osage chief Big Tracks (Cashesegra) moves part of the tribe to the Three Forks area; establishes settlement here.
1803
The United States purchases Louisiana from France for $15 million. Purchase included Muskogee area.
1806
James Wilkerson, as part of Zebulon Pike's exploration party, travels down the Arkansas; visits Osage village at Three Forks.
December, 1806
Joseph Bogey secures a trade license with Osages sets up first trading post at the Three Forks.
1808
George Brand and Capt. Barbour of New Orleans clear land along the Verdigris for their trading post near present day Okay. They also establish a ferry.
July 14, 1816
William Lovely, Cherokee agent, negotiates a peace treaty with the Osage for 7 million acres from the Falls of the Verdigris to White River in Arkansas. Called Lovely's Purchase and Lovely County.
March 2, 1819
Arkansas Territory is established by Congress and includes most of present day Oklahoma.
1819
Brand and Barbour sell their trading post on the east bank of the Verdigris at Three Forks to A.P. Chouteau.
Feb. 18, 1821
Missionary families arrive at Three Forks from New York to establish Union Mission near Mazie, the first mission in Indian Country.
1822
Emigrants bound for Texas begin to use the Texas Road to cross Indian Territory to claim free land being offered in Texas.
April 21, 1824
Construction on Fort Gibson begins by Col. Matthew Arbuckle and his Seventh Infantry.
April 4, 1824
A.P. Chouteau leaves from his Verdigris trading post with 19 tons of furs and hides.
June 2, 1825
Osages make a peace treaty with the government. The treaty moves the AR boundary to its present day line.
1827
A.P. Chouteau sells his Verdigris trading post to the U.S. government to be used as a Creek Agency. Steamboat companies in river towns advertise this as a destination site.
February, 1828
780 Creek Indians arrive at the Creek Agency on the Verdigris River on the steamboat, Facility, the first to travel up the Verdigris.
October, 1829
Sam Houston stops at the home of John Jolly on the mouth of the Illinois River as he travels up the Arkansas on the steamboat Facility. He settles at Three Forks and builds Wigwam Neosho.
1830
Congress passes the Indian Removal Act estblishing the policy to remove the Five Tribes to Indian Territory
1832
Washington Irving visits Indian Territory and writes about it in “A Tour on the Prairies.” He visits Sam Houston at Three Forks.
1833
Nathan Boone surveys the boundary line between the Cherokee and Creek Nations.
Sept. 26, 1840
Pleasant Porter is born on the family plantation in the Choska bottom.
1849
Tullahassee Mission is begun for Creek Indians by Presbyterian missionaries.
Jan. 2, 1856
Alice Robertson is born at Tullahassee Mission.
1861
Confederate troops build Fort Davis on site of ancient burial mounds.
November, 1862
Col. W.A. Phillips returns federal troops to Indian Territory and occupies Fort Gibson.
December, 1862
Fort Davis is attacked and burned by federal troops.
1866
The Five Tribes sign new treaties with the U.S., giving up lands and grant railroad right of ways.
1871
Missouri-Kansas-Texas railroad bridge is completed over the Arkansas River. A General Grant engine crosses on Christmas Day.
1872
The M-K-T rail line is completed to its depot south of the Three Forks. The town of Muscogee develops around this depot.
1873
First International Indian Fair is held in Muscogee, Indian Territory
1875
Union Agency is built on Agency Hill.
1883
Green Peach War ends with Isparhecher making a treaty with Chief Sam Checote. It was signed at the Rock Church in Muscogee.
1885
Almon Bacone moves Indian University to the Muscogee site. Rockefeller Hall is built to house the school.
April 1889
A federal court is established in Muscogee. Ground is broken for a new courthouse. Bass Reeves, first African-American deputy marshal works for the new court.
1893
Congress creates the Dawes Commission to the Five Tribes.
1894
The Dawes Commission sets up its headquarters in Muskogee.
1898
The Curtis Act dissolves tribal governments, instituting civil governments in Indian Territory for the purpose of allotting land to the Five Civilized Tribes.
April 1898
Muskogee forms a municipal government. Patrick Byrne is elected first mayor.
February 1899
Muskogee's Great Fire destroys much of downtown.
1901
Muskogee Phoenix becomes a daily newspaper. It is the oldest daily newspaper in Oklahoma.
Aug. 21, 1905
The Sequoyah State Convention is held in Muskogee. Chief Pleasant Porter is president of the convention.
1906
Congress passes the Enabling Act to combine Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory into one state.
Sept. 17, 1907
Charles N. Haskell of Muskogee is elected OK's first governor.
1907
Robert L. Owen of Muskogee is elected one of Oklahoma’s first Senators.
1907
Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory combine to join the Union as the 46th state.
1909
The Creek Nation gives 40 acres on Agency Hill to the city of Muskogee for a park.
1910
The Court Street viaduct is completed for the Muskogee Electric Traction Co. Trolley line.
1910
The "Welcome to Muskogee" electric arch greets visitors to the city.
1912
The Severs Hotel is completed in downtown Muskogee.
1920
Alice Robertson of Muskogee is elected to Congress. She is the second woman in U.S. history to ever hold the office.
1921
Honor Heights Park is dedicated to the veterans of WWI.
1923
The VA Hospital is built on Agency Hill.
1929
Hatbox Field is completed. So named because the hangars looked like hatboxes from the air.
1935
Honor Heights Park wins first prize in Better Homes and Gardens' More Beautiful America contest.
1942
Camp Gruber is built near Braggs as an army training base. Muskogee's population swells to 50,000.
1943
Severe flooding displaces residents in the floodplain of the three rivers.
1943
President Franklin Roosevelt visits Camp Gruber.
April 12, 1945
A tornado damages parts of Muskogee, including Hyde Park and the OK School for the Blind.
1948
Pres. Harry S. Truman visits Muskogee on a campaign stop. He speaks at Spaulding Park during the Indian Centennial.
1948
The Indian Centennial is held in Muskogee.
1952
Ed Edmondson of Muskogee is elected to Congress.
1958
J. Howard Edmondson of Muskogee is elected the youngest governor of Oklahoma.
1967
Azalea Festival begins to celebrate the hundreds of azaleas in Honor Heights Park.
1968
The McClellan-Kerr Waterway is opened. Muskogee becomes a port city.
1969
Merle Haggard writes a hit song titled, "Okie from Muskogee."
1979
Mike Synar of Muskogee is elected to Congress.
1993
Northeastern State University opens a campus at Muskogee
1994
Dr. Tom Coburn of Muskogee is elected to Congress, the first Republican to serve from Oklahoma’s second district since Alice Robertson.
Sept. 11, 2001
Ron Milam, a Muskogee High School graduate is killed in the terrorist attack against the Pentagon.
2002
A barge accident collapses the I-40 Arkansas River Bridge, near Webbers Falls, killing 14 people.
2003
The Three Forks Harbor Project breaks ground on its multi-million dollar complex.
2004
Muskogee's Tom Coburn elected to the U.S. Senate.
2005
Camp Gruber is activated as an evacuee camp for victims of Hurricane Katrina. It becomes a role model for such efforts.
2005
"Okie from Muskogee" is named CMT's #1 City Song.
2005
Checotah's Carrie Underwood is voted American Idol 2005.
2007
Muskogee suffers damages from January ice storm.

Courtesy Jonita Mullens

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