After I arrived back in Stroud, Oklahoma, on Route 66, I decided to take a counterclockwise route back to Tulsa by following some additional back roads.
First stop was Shawnee (population 31,377). I was surprised to learn that Shawnee is only 112 miles from the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System, which provides shipping barge access to the Gulf of America. I had always assumed that all commercial goods in the area had to be shipped by rail or truck.
There are a number of notable people from Shawnee, such as Actors Brad Pitt and Joe Frank Cobb, Astronaut Gordon Cooper, Martha Lillard (the last person living in the iron lung), football star Darrien Gordon, and many others.
The Ritz Theater in downtown Shawnee was originally built in 1897 as a dry goods store and later used as a boarding house. Then, in 1913, the building was converted into a theater, and the name was changed to "The Ritz" in 1926. It is considered to be one of the oldest operating theaters in Oklahoma.
When the building was converted into a theater, it became the major form of entertainment in Shawnee, showing silent films and later "talking pictures." The theater now functions as a live performance venue, rather than a movie theater.
Many people claim the theater is haunted and have reported flickering lights, strange voices, and unexplained activity. The most well-known spirits are Leo Montgomery, a historic movie projectionist, and "Amelia," a spirit from the boarding house days.
Near the County Courthouse is a blue horse and the Woodland Veterans Park, which is designed in a five-point star layout. The park includes a granite wall listing Oklahomans who died in action since the Spanish-American War, a Huey helicopter, and other military displays.
With its Romanesque Revival-style architecture and 60-foot turret, the historic Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Depot is one of the most distinctive and unusual depots in Oklahoma. The depot was built in 1902 with limestone block walls that are two to three feet thick. The depot is closed to the public but can be viewed from the street.
The main museum building is located just north of the depot, along with a log building and a caboose. In front of the depot, the original street, made of locally produced brick pavers, is still in use.
I did not tour the Jasmine Moran Children's Museum in Seminole (population 7,146), but I was told that this is one of the most popular hands-on attractions in the area. Apparently, it is designed like an interactive mini-town where kids can role-play jobs, explore science and health exhibits, and enjoy an outdoor train ride and play area.
The Grisso Mansion, just down the street from the Children's Museum, is one of the best representations of the wealth during the oil boom era in Seminole.
Grisso started as a pharmacist and leveraged land and mineral rights during the oil boom, eventually becoming extremely wealthy and building the mansion as a showpiece for his success. The massive 26-room mansion features hand-crafted tiles from Italy, a basement ballroom, eight fireplaces, a courtyard, fountains, a greenhouse, a carriage house, underground service tunnels, and additional buildings. Literature states, "It was built with no expense spared, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars at the time, a huge sum in the 1920s."
Before closing in 2019, the mansion was used for weddings and special events. The mansion is now closed to the public, but the day I drove by, a crew was working on the outside of the building.
Wewoka (population 3,133) is the capital of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma and has a violent history, with over 75 documented lynching victims killed in Oklahoma between 1865 and 1950.
During the oil boom from 1925-1930, the town of Wewoka grew from a population of 1,520 to over 10,000, and then to over 20,000 in 1927. In the boom days, there were sixteen drug stores, eight beauty shops, seven pool rooms, six bus lines, twelve doctors, six dentists, forty lawyers, twelve blacksmiths, ten furniture dealers, eleven dry goods stores, and eight lumber companies. Millionaires were plentiful, and some people had incomes of over $150,000 per month.
The Seminole Nation Museum, originally built in 1934 as part of a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project, offers a good overview of the Seminole Nation's history.
In the downtown area, a beautiful butterfly was painted on the side of a building next to the courthouse. In front of the courthouse was a Statue of Liberty dedicated by the Boy Scouts of America as a pledge of "everlasting fidelity and loyalty to strengthen the Arm of Liberty." Next to the Statue of Liberty was a small veterans' memorial and a 50-year time capsule buried in 2016, to be opened on June 26, 2066.
Also in front of the courthouse is the Whipping Tree, which dates back to the 1800s, when the Seminole Nation enforced its own laws in the Indian Territory. People convicted of crimes were tied to the tree and publicly whipped. Punishment was carried out by tribal law, known as "Lighthorsement." Sentences varied depending on the offense. Also located in front of the courthouse was an Execution Tree used for hangings, but it was cut down in the 1920s.
Wetumka (population 1,135) was named by the Muscogee Creek Indians in the 1830s for their ancestral town of Wetumpka in Alabama. "Wetumka" is a Muskogee language word meaning "rumbling waters."
The town is known for two things: on the last Saturday in September, it celebrates "Sucker Day," and it hosts the "Crappie Festival" annually, celebrating fishing culture with events, food, and community activities. Because of the large number of Crappie caught at nearby Lake Wetumka, the town of Wetumka is known as the "Crappie Capital of the World."
When I entered Wetumka, I was intrigued by the interesting mural on the side of a building. There were no customers in the grocery store, so I had an interesting visit with the clerk. When he told me about "Sucker Day," I asked him why there wasn't a large lollipop statue located on Main Street to advertise the event. He explained that "sucker" was not a candy, but rather a reference to 1950, when the town was conned into believing a circus was coming. They had prepared food and spruced up the town for the special occasion. When they discovered they had been conned, instead of being mad, the town, since all the food and activities were already prepared, turned the event into an annual festive party called "Sucker Day."
Weleetka (population 806) was founded by three newspapermen who were struggling to survive in the newspaper business. They knew that two railroads were going to cross in Oklahoma, so they surmised that if they built a town at the junction site, they could make a lot of money. They were able to purchase land at the proposed junction site, and on February 10, 1902, they began selling lots for $40 each, paying off the land purchase on the first day. The following day, First Bank of Weleetka opened, and by evening, it had $3,000 in deposits. On March 14, a post office was established. The town had a population of 1,020 by 1907, and by 1930, it was 2,042, with two hotels, three cotton gins, a cotton compress, three drug stores, an opera house, and a mercantile company. However, beginning in 1930, cotton production and railroad service started to decline, followed by a steady loss of population throughout the 20th Century. In 1939, the railroad ceased operations, and Weleetka lost its major employer. Weleetka's current population is about 800, and the town is known as "Home of the Outlaws." In this case, "outlaws" is not about criminals or Wild West bandits; it's actually the town's school mascot.
Henryetta (population 5,640) is often called the "Rodeo Cowboy Capital of the World" because this is where rodeo legend Jim Shoulders is from. This is also where Troy Aikman, Dallas Cowboys NFL Hall of Fame quarterback, attended high school.
The Henryetta Historical Museum is located in the town's original one-room schoolhouse. At one time, the school also served as a church, public library, Boy Scout house, courtroom, and Red Cross headquarters during WWI. Currently, the museum contains exhibits on Jim Shoulders and Troy Aikman.
Located downtown is a Doughboy statue bearing the names of fallen heroes who gave their lives in the defense of our country from WWI to the present.
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