Okfuskee County Timeline of Events
What was happening during your ancestor's lifetime?
Legend
World/National Events in Blue
Oklahoma Events in Green Okfuskee County Events in Red
1803
U.S. purchases the Oklahoma region (except the Panhandle) as a part of the Louisiana purchase.
1819
Oklahoma region (except Panhandle) becomes a part of the Territory of Arkansas.
1825
William McIntosh, a Creek chief, signs treaty providing an exchange of Creek lands in Georgia for a trial domain between the Arkansas and Canadian rivers in the West.
1830
Andrew Jackson signs the Indian Removal Act and the Five Civilized Tribes begin their move (the Trail of Tears) to Indian Territory.
John Deere invents the steel plow.
1860
Arkansas Territorial Census taken (did not include Native Americans).
1861
Telegraph links both coasts.
Civil War begins.
1863
Emancipation Proclamation.
1865
13th Amendment Abolishes Slavery.
1867
Creek Nation goverment established. Includes what would later become Creek, McIntosh, Okmulgee, Okfuskee, Tulsa, and other counties.
1869
Completion of the first coast-to-coast railroad.
1870
Missouri Kansas Texas (MKT) railroad built across Oklahoma.
1872
Tuskegee post office opens but closes three months later, reopens again in 1896.
1874
Joseph Glidden invents barbed wire.
1876
Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone.
1877
Thomas Edison invents the phonograph.
1878
Yellow fever epidemic in the South kills 14,000.
1879
Thomas Edison invents the light bulb.
1880
Thlopthlocco Methodist Church builds first building.
1883
Arbeka post office opens (Sept 10).
1889
U.S. begins opening part of Oklahoma to white settlement (Oklahoma Land Run - April 22) - the first of several runs and lotteries for land.
1890
Congress establishes the Territory of Oklahoma (and adds the Panhandle region to it) effectively closing the frontier.
1893
Congress establishes the Dawes Commission to manage the affairs of the Five Civilized Tribes.
1884
Springfield (renamed McDermott in 1894) post office opens.
1896
Alaskan Gold Rush.
Bearden, Creek (renamed Welty in 1905), and Okfuskee post offices open.
1897
Fentress and Morse post offices open.
1898
Welty school opens.
Handy and Watsonville (renamed Spokogee in 1902 then Dustin in 1904) post offices open.
Okemah townsite selected and surveyed by Perry Rodkey and H. B. Dexter.
1900
Amabala post office opens.
1902
First townsite lots sold in Okemah (April 22).
Okemah's First State Bank begins operations in a tent.
Weleetka townsite opens (February 10).
The First Bank of Weleetka opens in a tent (February 11).
Clearview, Okemah, and Weleetka post offices open.
1903
Wright brothers invent the airplane and make first flight.
First train of the Fort Smith and Western railroad reaches Okemah (May 12).
First Baptist and First Methodist Churches of Okemah open.
Welty cotton gin opens.
Boley, Castle, Edna, Irene, Paden, and Price post offices open.
Goode and McDermott post offices close.
1904
Boley platted and formal opening held (September 22).
Micawber post office opens.
Handy post office closes.
1905
Okemah's first school built and opened on the Old Wilson school site.
Welty town name changed from Creek, town platted and lot sales begin.
Shumpker (renamed Trenton four months later) and Welty post offices open.
1906
San Francisco Earthquake.
Hampton post office opens.
1907
Construction begins on the Panama canal.
Oklahoma becomes the 46th state (November 16).
Noble school completed and named after Miss Mae Noble.
Amabala, Arbeka, and Irene post offices close.
Okfuskee County Population 15,595.
1908
Ford Motor Company introduces the Model T.
The Dexter House, an Okemah boarding house, is bombed (April 23).
Fentress and Hampton post offices close.
1909
Robert Peary reaches the North Pole.
New building completed for Boley grade school.
1910
Okfuskee County Population 19,995.
1911
Welty Odd Fellows Lodge organized.
1912
Titanic sinks.
Woody Guthrie born in Okemah (July 14).
1914
World War I begins in Europe (1914-1918).
1915
First transcontinental telephone call.
1920
18th Amendment begins prohibition.
19th Amendment gives women the right to vote.
Okfuskee County Population 25,051.
1922
Two movies, "The Bull Dogger" and "Crimson Skull", starring Bill Pickett, black rodeo star, are filmed in Boley.
Thlopthlocco Methodist Church builds new building.
1924
First flights around the world.
1926
First Baptist Church of Okemah moves to new building at Fifth and Ash.
1927
Okfuskee County courthouse building completed.
1928
First television broadcast in New York.
1929
Black Friday on Wall Street (October 28).
Great Depression begins (1929-1942).
1930
Fort Smith and Western fails leaving area without rail service.
Okfuskee County Population 29,016.
1932
Three gunmen attempt robbery of The Farmer's and Merchant's Bank of Boley - the three gunmen and the Bank President are killed.
1933
Roosevelt's New Deal enacted.
21st Amendment repeals prohibition.
1934
Gunmen rob the Okemah National Bank and the First National Bank of Okemah (December 22).
1935
Oklahoma's Dust Bowl Days (1935-1938).
1936
Okemah's new post office building is dedicated.
1939
World War II begins (1939-1945).
Okemah native, Leon C. (Red) Phillips is elected Governor (1939-1943).
1940
Okfuskee County Population 26,279.
1941
Japanese attack Pearl Harbor (December 7).
1943
WWII rationing begins in U.S.
1944
Allies invade Normandy on D-Day (June 6).
1950
Korean War begins (1950-1953).
Okfuskee County Population 16,948.
1954
Segregation in public schools deemed illegal.
1959
Vietnam War begins (1959-1975).
1960
Okfuskee County Population 11,706.
1961
First Baptist Church of Okemah purchases the old Church of Christ building at Sixth and Ash.
1962
Cuban Missile Crisis.
Fire heavily damages the First Baptist Church of Okemah (Sixth and Ash).
1963
President Kennedy assassinated.
1967
Woody Guthrie, Okemah native, dies in New York of Huntington's Disease.
1969
Neil Armstrong sets foot on the moon.
Okemah adds third water tower - a tribute to singer Woody Guthrie.
1970
Okfuskee County Population 10,683.
1974
Richard Nixon resigns his Presidency.
1979
Jane Mayo, Okemah native, named All-Around Cowgirl.
1980
Fire destroys Okemah's Box Hardware, Power's TV, and some apartments. Six other businesses receive heavy smoke damage. Damage estimated at $300,000. (October 5)
Okfuskee County Population 11,125.
1981
A tornado sweeps across rural Okfuskee County northeast of Okemah destroying the New Life Holiness Church, a residence, a vacant house, a mobile home, damages the roofs of several homes, and kills livestock. (May 18)
1986
Space shuttle Challenger explodes.
1989
Cold War ends and the Berlin wall opened.
1990
Okfuskee County Population 11,551
2000
Okfuskee County Population 11,814
Thanks to Rusty Lang for the idea and starting outline of this timeline.
©2001-2005 Linda Simpson
01/18/2005