Today in Oklahoma History
Operation Desert Storm (Gulf War)
Thursday, August, 2, 1990 – On this day U.S. and a multi-national coalition force moved to liberate Kuwait from an Iraqi invasion. more...
Green Corn Rebellion
Wednesday, August, 2, 2017 – Triggered by opposition to World War I and the draft, this tenant farmers' revolt broke out in three counties along Oklahoma's South Canadian River. While antiwar sentiments fueled the Green Corn Rebellion, it actually grew from long-standing grievances many tenants held against local landowners, businessmen, and state and local authorities. The farmers were particularly angered over the growing control of land by small numbers of wealthy landholders who often resorted to rampant land speculation and outright fraud to obtain property. Speculation and falling crop prices had by 1917 forced over half of Oklahoma's farmers into tenancy. ... More.
Wirt Franklin No. 1
Monday, August, 4, 1913 – The Crystal Oil Company brings in the Wirt Franklin No. 1 well 20 miles northwest of Ardmore, Oklahoma. With an initial flow of up to 100 barrels of oil per day, the well reveals the Healdton field. Wirt Franklin will become the first president of the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) in 1929. Throughout its development, Healdton is known as a “poor man’s field” because of its relatively shallow depth and consequent low cost of drilling operations. The area attracts independent producers with limited financial backing to compete with the larger oil companies. By June of 1914, 90 percent of Healdton oilfield leases are held by independents. More...
1st Legislative Election
Tuesday, August, 5, 1890 – First election for choosing members of legislature for Indian Territory was held on this day.
Stringtown Shootout
Friday, August, 5, 1932 – At an outdoor dance in Stringtown, OK, Sheriff Eugene Moore is killed, and Sheriff C. G. Maxwell is wounded by Clyde Barrow, Raymond Hamilton, and Everett Milligan. More...
Auction of Lawton Townsite Lots
Tuesday, August, 6, 1901 – On 6 August 1901 lots in the original Lawton townsite where auctioned to the highest bidder. A crowd of thousands waited in the broiling august sun for a chance to acquire a lot in the 320 acre townsite which President William McKinley set aside when Comanche, Apache, and Kiowa lands were opened to settlement. The original site was bounded on the north by Gore Boulevard, on the east by Railroad Street, on the south by F Street, and on the west by 11th Street. By 31 August all 1422 lots had been sold at prices ranging from $35.00 to #3545.00. more...
Red River Bridge War - Martial Law Rescinded
Thursday, August, 6, 1931 – The Red River Bridge War was a 1931 bloodless boundary conflict between Oklahoma and Texas over an existing toll bridge and a new free bridge crossing the Red River. On this day the injunction against the bridge opening was dissolved and Oklahoma governor "Alfalfa Bill" Murray rescinded the martial law order. more...
Vietnam War
Friday, August, 7, 1964 – On August 2, 1964, occurred the Gulf of Tonkin Incident. This and other attacks led to retaliatory air strikes and prompted Congress to approve the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution on August 7th, 1964. The resolution gave the President power to conduct military operations in South East Asia without declaring war. On March 8, 1965, 3,500 United States Marines were dispatched to South Vietnam. This marked the beginning of the American ground war. The last American troops would not leave the country until April 30, 1975. more...
McVeigh, Nichols Charged with OKC Bombing
Thursday, August, 10, 1995 – Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols were charged with 11 counts in the Oklahoma City bombing. more...
Cimarron News First Issue Published
Thursday, August, 11, 1898 – The oldest, continuously operated business institution in Cimarron County is "The Boise City News" established as The "Cimarron News" at the close of the Spanish-American War by L. A. Wikoff at Kenton. The first issue was published Aug. 11, 1898. In March, 1910, when Boise City as the county seat became the center of activity in the county, Wikoff sold the paper to Roscoe C. Thomas and W. T. Cleeton who moved the plant to Boise City. It was housed in a frame building that had formerly been the office of the "Cimarron Citizen", a newspaper in the town of Cimarron and had been moved to the location where the Crystal Hotel now stands. The name of the paper was changed to "The Boise City News" with the July 25,1930, issue.more...
Oklahoma's First Rural Route
Wednesday, August, 15, 1900 – The Postal Service established free delivery of mail to rural areas in 1896. Oklahoma's first rural route began serving customers on August 15, 1900 in Hennessey, Oklahoma. According to the Hennessey Clipper newspaper, Albert Darrow was the first Oklahoma Rural Carrier; his route was 24 miles long and covered a 31 square mile area with a population of 700. Darrow provided his own transportation, a horse and wagon and received an annual income of $500. More...
Will Rogers and Wiley Post killed in plane crash
Thursday, August, 15, 1935 – An avid booster of aviation, Will Rogers undertook a sightseeing trip to Alaska with a fellow Oklahoman, world-renowed aviator Wiley Post, in the summer of 1935. Post's plane, an experimental and top-heavy hybrid of Lockheed Explorer and Orion parts, crashed near Point Barrow, Alaska, on August 15, 1935, killing both men. more...
Katz Drug Sit-in
Tuesday, August, 19, 1958 – On Tuesday afternoon, August 19, 1958, Clara Luper and a group of Youth Council members entered the segregated Katz drugstore in downtown Oklahoma City, took seats, and asked to be served. Two days later, Katz corporate management in Kansas City desegregated its lunch counters in three states. The August 1958 sit-in led by Clara Luper at the Katz drug store occurred a year and a half before the February 1, 1960 Greensboro, North Carolina sit-ins. more...
Sequoyah Constitutional Convention
Monday, August, 21, 1905 – The Sequoyah Constitutional Convention met in Muskogee, on this day. The convention drafted a constitution, drew up a plan of organization for the government, put together a map showing the counties to be established, and elected delegates to go to the United States Congress to petition for statehood. more..
Tulsa Port of Catoosa Bond
Tuesday, August, 22, 1967 – The people of the city of Tulsa passed a 17.5 million dollar bond issue for port development. This was joined by funds from Rogers County to develop the site for the 2000 acre Tulsa Port of Catoosa. more...
Battle of Perryville
Monday, August, 24, 1863 – After the federal victory at Honey Springs in July 1863, Maj. Gen. James Blunt, division commander of the Union Army of the Frontier, marched out of Ft. Gibson to find and defeat the Confederate army in Indian Territory, once and for all. Blunt's scouts contacted Brig. Gen. William Steele's rear guard as he was withdrawing south across the Canadian River. ... Perryville, a major supply depot for the Confederates, was located halfway between Boggy Depot and Scullyville, or Northfork Town, on the Texas Road. By attacking Steele, Blunt hoped to catch and destroy Cooper's five thousand men and their depot. Then he would be free to take Cabell and Fort Smith. .. Steele posted a strong picket, including two howitzers, on the north side of town blocking the road leading into Perryville. The Federals arrived at the edge of town and engaged the Confederates in a rare night fight. The Confederates were in a fixed position of hastily constructed barricades, and the Confederate artillery was centered on the road. The Federals deployed right and left of the road and brought artillery quickly into play. The heated exchange lasted a short time. The Confederates, fearing they would be engulfed, retreated without their stores, leaving them in the hands of the Federals. The Union troops hit with such swiftness that Steele was unable to summon reinforcements. Blunt secured what supplies he could use and ordered the town burned. The destruction of this major Confederate depot crippled the Confederate forces in Indian Territory as much as if Cooper's army had been destroyed. more...
Outlaw Bill Doolin is killed
Tuesday, August, 25, 1896 – The outlaw Bill Doolin is killed by a posse at Lawson, Oklahoma. More...
Bobbi Parker
Tuesday, August, 30, 1994 – Randolph Dial, a sculptor and painter convicted of a 1981 murder, escaped from the Oklahoma State Reformatory. On the same day Bobbi Parker disappeared from staff housing at the reformatory, where her husband worked. On Apr 4, 2005, she was found living with Randolph Dial on a chicken farm in Texas. In 2011 Bobbi Parker was sentenced to a year in jail for helping Dial escape.