One hundred years ago today, Oklahoma became the nation’s 46th state. The area was originally the site of Indian Territory, where Congress relocated Native Americans after the 1830 Indian Removal Act. It was originally thought that the US government wouldn’t need that area of the Great Plains. But by the end of the century, homesteaders were lobbying Congress for permission to settle there. In 1889 the government purchased unassigned land in the territory and the Oklahoma Land Run began.
The land run was chaotic, with people on foot, bicycles, horses, and wagons. Conflicts raged over who reached a plot of land first and were sometimes settled violently because of the lack of law and order in the West. Cheating also occurred – those who slipped through the US Army lines along the territory’s border to find the best plots before the race began were nicknamed ‘Sooners’.
The National Archives has a treasure trove of original documents related to Oklahoma’s statehood.
Many people came to know the story of Oklahoma through the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, which ran for a then-record 2,212 performances after it opened in 1943. The show was made into a movie in 1955.
