Chickasha in 1901 - Grady County, Oklahoma Transcribed by: Sandi Carter 2 Dec 2002 ==================================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE All documents placed in the USGenWeb Archives remain the property of the contributors, who retain publication rights in accordance with US Copyright Laws and Regulations. In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, these documents may be used by anyone for their personal research. They may be used by non-commercial entities so long as all notices and submitter information is included. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit. Any other use, including copying files to other sites, requires permission from the contributors PRIOR to uploading to the other sites. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. ==================================================================== INDIAN TERRITORY By D. C. Gideon 1901 CHICKASHA The most rapidly growing city in Indian Territory today is Chickasha. The population, from a carefully prepared census in October, 1900, was four thousand and eighty-three. There were at that time eight hundred and seventy-eight residences, all occupied. This statement is made, and the census taken, by the editor of the Daily Telegram, one of the excellent dailies published in Chickasha. Many natural advantages environ this city, among which might be most prominently noted the exceedingly fertile soil, the fact that it is a division point on the Great Rock Island railway whence the Anadarko division branches, the salubrious climate, the excellent character of its citizens, the progressiveness of her business men, -- all these and many other inducements might be cited to account for her rapidly increasing population. Chickasha, only eight years old, has the following business enterprises, and others are coming month by month: It is lighted by electricity, has a five hundred barrel flouring mill, an eighty ton cotton seed oil mill, local and long distance telephones, two wholesale grocery stores, ten retail groceries, eight dry goods stores, four gents' furnishing houses, four hardware and implement houses, four large lumberyards, three banks, five drug stores, two jewelry houses, three hotels, a steam carpenter shop, and harness, shoemaker and blacksmith shops without number. It has six churches and two school houses, and the city is incorporated. Business is carried on, debts are collected and any offense against morality is punished as promptly as in any city in the Union. There are published here two daily and weekly papers. The oldest, the Chickasha Express, is owned and edited by A. M. Dawson, one of the first pioneers of the town. Its business manager is William F. Granlee. The Evening Telegram is owned and published by W. L. Beavers & Company. Both papers have an extensive circulation and their owners are making money. Chickasha is located in the fertile Washita River Valley, two miles east of the Comanche reservation, and on the main line of the Rock Island Railroad. It has a commissioner's court. The ladies have a club, Sorosis, organized in September, 1896, by Mrs. J. H. Griffin and Mrs. F. E. Riddle, with a membership of fifteen, which has been largely increased. The club gives an annual reception and banquet, all of which have been conceded the finest of their kind in Indian Territory. With the many modern institutions and refinements of civilization, the town "puts on many city airs." Nine years ago the site of Chickasha was in the heart of a wilderness of pastures over which roamed multiplied thousands of cattle. The original owner of this part was James L. Speed, a white man, and his Indian wife, Annie. They sold their allotment to a town company and also became stockholders in the enterprise. The first residence on the new town site was a small house put up in sections and shipped by Elijah Robinson from Leroy, Kansas. This was erected on the Santa Fe right of way, and Mrs. Robinson opened a boarding house for the accommodation of workmen engaged in their trades. The first temporary office on the town site was a little box shanty ten by twelve, and this was utilized by A. B. Snow, who looked after the town company business and was also used and occupied at the same time for a millinery store and for banking purposes. Elijah Robinson was the first grocery merchant, and James Carey the second. A. B. Snow was the first dealer in lumber, and is now in the same business. William Brown and V. N. Sayer were the first druggists. Jacob DeCombs was the first postmaster. Rev. Eugene Hamilton, a Presbyterian divine, was the first minister to preach in the new town, and the Presbyterian the first church organization. The first hotel was The Leland, built by W. T. Lancaster. J. Dolson, the veteran harness maker, opened Julius Doss, the pioneer liveryman; and D. M. Johnston, the first medical man. The first bank was the Citizens' that came with the town and was opened and ready for business before a house in the town was completed save its own quarters, as previously mentioned. Theo Fitzpatrick erected the first brick store. It was fifty by eighty, two stories. The Chickasha Express also came with the opening of the town site. Its founder was W. R. Orme. A. M. Dawson succeeded Orme as its editor and publisher one year later. The townsite Company was composed of E. S. Burney, C. L. Campbell, C. B. Campbell, Joe Cawdell, James H. Tuttle, and J. L. Speed and his wife, Annie. Among the early transfers of lots were of Nos. 11, 12, 13, and 14 to the Presbyterian church. Submitted by Sandi Carter GG granddaughter of Theodore Fitzpatrick First cousin 3 times removed of C. B. (Charles Bryant) Campbell