Remembering the Pioneer Spirit of Oklahoma

“Twelve o’clock. There went up a roar that drowned the crack of the soldiers’ musketry as they fired in the air as the signal of noon and the start of the Run. You could see the puffs of smoke from their guns, but you couldn’t hear a sound. The thousands surged over the Line. It was like water going over a broken dam ... “

--Edna Ferber, describing the Great Oklahoma Land Run of 1889 in the 1931 movie “Cimarron”

I wanted to come home, to revisit the small Oklahoma town where I lived until I was 13, when a divorce split my family in half and swept me off with my mother and little brother to the California promised land.

My first trip home in more than 10 years, in April of 1989, turned out to be much more than just a return to my youth. To my surprise, Guthrie, population 10,000, 32 miles north of Oklahoma City off Interstate 35, had become a place of historical interest and even significance.

The very fact that nothing much was happening there has turned out to be a good thing.

Today as always, turn-of-the-century red sandstone buildings with turrets, cupolas and arched windows line Guthrie’s two main streets--European shape and form created with Oklahoma clay.

Funny, but I never noticed the architecture before. What I remembered most about Guthrie were the sidewalks, the long stairs going up to my dad’s office, the row of comic books at the corner drugstore . . . and my grandmother’s hands making cookies.

Most of the town’s buildings were constructed between 1889 and 1910. They not only still stand, but they are very much in use. In fact, Guthrie has the largest restored commercial historic district in the National Register of Historic Places.

Fifteen city blocks hold more than 100 business buildings of Victorian design. Half of the 4,700 homes in the town are certified Victorian.

Guthrie sprang up literally overnight, on April 22, 1889, as a result of the Great Oklahoma Land Run--when the unassigned lands of central Oklahoma (2.2 million acres that were originally part of Indian territory) were opened to settlers after a proclamation by President Benjamin Harrison.

The settlers began lining up days in advance on the northern border of the unassigned land, in the center of what was to become Oklahoma.

At exactly noon on April 22, a single gunshot was fired and more than 50,000 people--on horseback, in wagons, on bicycles, even on foot--streamed into the territory and staked claims in areas that have since become the towns of Guthrie, Kingfisher, El Reno, Stillwater, Oklahoma City and Norman. Others came by train, since the Guthrie area (then called Deer Creek) was already a Santa Fe stop. Guthrie had a tent-city population of between 12,000 and 15,000 that first night.

My first morning back in town, as I walked down Guthrie’s nostalgic main street, Oklahoma Avenue, everything in sight seemed to be a reddish brown color--the brick street, the ornate sandstone buildings. Even the lush green in the distance was broken periodically by dirt so red that it looked like a wound cut in the earth. Cottonwood Creek, which divides the town into two distinct areas, is itself a rolling ribbon of red brown.

Nearby, however, the picture changes. The Cimarron River, which winds its way from Kansas through central Oklahoma to the riverbanks in Guthrie, is clear and blue.

I timed my return to coincide with the annual 89er Celebration, which is held every April (this year it’s scheduled for April 16-20).

Folks in Guthrie have staged an 89er Celebration since 1890--though it was dropped after statehood, then revived in 1929. The festivities feature Oklahoma’s largest parade (April 20 this year)--including covered wagons, bands, horses, floats and Shriners--winding through the town’s red-brick streets, uniting visitors and Guthrians, the past and the present.

The parade route passes some of the most interesting architecture in the West, past many of my childhood memories--the stationery store where we bought my school supplies each year, the drugstore my best friend’s father owned, the movie theater (no longer in business) where we watched Roy Rogers, Lash LaRue and Saturday serials.

Townspeople dressed in territorial clothing stage a variety of activities in addition to the parade. There’s a crafts show that includes country-style crafts and Native American art, a rousing rodeo and carnival, plus a contest to determine the longest beard. There are plays staged year-round at the historic Pollard Theatre, a 1910 vaudeville house.

Guthrie has the look of a movie set from a bygone era (in fact, part of “Rain Man” was filmed here). Anyone interested in and appreciative of the history of the American West should find it fascinating.

In a 1989 feature story, the Boston Globe called Guthrie the “Williamsburg of the West,” where the Victorian era met the Wild West.

By the mid-1970s, Guthrians seemed to awaken from a slumber to realize that their city, virtually unchanged since Victorian days, had historical value and interest. The Territorial Museum was opened next to the old Carnegie Library as a repository for artifacts that tell the story of Oklahoma’s settlement.

A statue in front of the museum symbolizing the marriage between a white settler and an Indian maiden is meant to be a metaphor for the formation of a single state in 1907, combining the homesteaded land of Oklahoma and Indian territories.

Historical markers have been erected in various spots around town, relaying dates and information about significant events, buildings and people. Most of Guthrie’s downtown commercial buildings have been restored. The aluminum siding placed on some building fronts in the 1950s has been removed.

Guthrie flourished in its early days, blossoming into an oasis of commerce and culture. It was the territorial capital until 1890, then became the state capital in 1907 after a bitter dispute with Oklahoma City. After much political haggling and more debate, Oklahoma City officially became the state capital in 1910--an issue still hotly discussed in Guthrie today.

The story has it that an Oklahoma City legislator slipped into the Capitol building and stole the official seal of the state of Oklahoma, wrapped it in an old shirt and took it under the cover of darkness to Oklahoma City, where it remains today.

The architect largely responsible for Guthrie’s distinct look is Joseph Pierre Foucart, who was born and trained in Belgium. Foucart had worked on, among other projects, the Paris City Hall.

During his nearly 10-year stay in Guthrie, Foucart brought his eclectic blend of Russian towers, spindle-topped buildings and Romanesque arches to the red sandstone and brick of the area. He created numerous downtown buildings and several residences before mysteriously disappearing sometime around 1908.

The Blue Belle Saloon on South Second Street, across from the Publishing Museum, is not to be missed. No Western town was complete without its bar and bordello, and Guthrie was no exception.

Built in 1903, the Blue Belle’s present brick structure replaced the wooden one built in 1889 to serve thirsty land rushers. Closed in 1907 when Oklahoma became a state and went dry, the saloon is booming once again with its original ornate wooden bar, metal ceiling, tile floor and new versions of honky-tonk tunes. One of the bartenders from the Blue Belle’s early days was Tom Mix, who later became the popular cowboy star of silent films.

Upstairs in the Blue Belle building is Miss Lizzie’s House of Reputable Shoppes, once a bordello with 17 rooms and a connecting hall to the neighboring Elks Hotel. The restored bordello now houses a gift shop and crafts cooperative featuring clothing, corn-silk wreaths and collectibles.

During the 89er Celebration, mock gunfights are still staged in front of the building, much to the distress of costumed dance hall girls.

On the east side of town, at the end of Oklahoma Avenue, is an enormous Greek Revival building with 396 stained-glass windows and 26 columns, each weighing 77 tons. It was on these grounds that plans were drawn for Oklahoma’s first Capitol building, in Guthrie.

When Oklahoma City became the state capital in 1910, those plans were changed. Now the building is the Scottish Rite Masonic Temple, meeting place for the Shriners and the largest Masonic temple in the world.

Each year, from September through May, the temple is booked with musical entertainment, ranging from Frankie Laine to Wynton Marsalis.

Guthrie has two bed and breakfast inns. The sprawling Stone Lion Inn is a converted funeral home--some say the “spirit” of an 8-year-old girl is still active--on the west side of town that dates to 1907. Visitors can dine in Victorian splendor in their own private sitting room.

The Harrison House Inn occupies the 1902 Guthrie Savings Bank Building downtown. It has 23 rooms, each furnished with Victorian antiques and named for local heroes such as Tom Mix, actor Lon Chaney, the writer O. Henry and the fiery Prohibitionist Carrie Nation.

As I walked around Guthrie, I could still recognize the town where I once lived. My family’s house on Oklahoma Avenue looks the same, though the missing chunk in the stone retaining wall has been replaced. Around the corner, my grandparents’ house now belongs to another white-haired couple.

But the corner grocery store where I was first trusted to walk alone and purchase a loaf of bread is now a salon for Guthrie’s version of trendy hair cuts. A small piece of sandstone has crumbled into the sidewalk. I remembered playing hopscotch and scribbling messages on the sidewalks once with similar rocks.

Retracing my footsteps from decades past, I picked up the sandstone, slipped it into my pocket and walked back to my rented car. Good memories.

GUIDEBOOK

Visiting Guthrie

Where to stay: For Victorian elegance, try one of these two B&Bs--Harrison; House, 124 W. Harrison Ave., Guthrie 73044, (800) 375-1001, $50-$60 per night, or the “haunted” Stone Lion Inn, 1016 W. Warner Ave. 73044, (405) 282-0012, $75-$95. Motels include the Best Western Territorial Inn, (405) 282-8831, and The Townhouse in Guthrie’s historic district, (405) 232-2000.

Where to eat: The Sand Plum, Harrison Avenue and First Street in the Victor Mall, (405) 282-7771, offers continental cuisine. Granny Had One is a new restaurant on the bottom floor of the Pollard Theatre, serving all homemade food. Dining in the midst of antique furnishings, which are available for purchase.

For more information: Contact the Guthrie Chamber of Commerce, P.O. Box 995, Guthrie 73044, (405) 282-1947.