Grove Beginnings...Part One
By Rose Stauber
This is the first of a series of articles about Grove’s Beginnings.
When was the town of Grove incorporated? Actually, we don’t know. Which probably is why the town never celebrates its anniversaries. But not to worry. Tulsa doesn’t know when it was incorporated. Nor does Muskogee, or most of the towns in the formerIndian Territory.
Why is that? The question was asked of the archivist at the Fort Worth National Archives. Her reply was that she suspected the court records had gotten a bit wet and been thrown out. We do know that Grove was incorporated by 1900 because the census taker that year, Oliver Mason, used the words on the census“Incorporated Town of Grove.” Mason listed his occupation as druggist.
Jean Bohannan, who researched the town for the county history, "Heritage of the Hills," said that a few records she can no longer find at City Hall, and other now lost papers, led her to the conclusion that the city was incorporated about 1898.
The first preserved copies of the “Grove Sun” on microfilm begin in the last half of 1904. The newspaper was founded by JohnH. Gibson, a prominent business man, four-time mayor of Grove, aCherokee Nation councilor, and a member of the Oklahomalegislature. Many early issues are missing from the record preserved on microfilm including a year from mid-1906 to mid-1907. We wish we could have the record those issues recorded .
In 1902, the Department of the Interior approved the original plat for the Town of Grove. Copies of this plat are available at City Hall and at the Grove Public Library. This was the period that the Dawes Commission was preparing theFinal Roll of the Five Civilized Tribes and allotting the land to those on the roll.
Town sites were another matter that the Dawes Commissionreally wanted nothing to do with. As a result, the Indian Agent atMuskogee was handling town sites. Only two prospective townsitesare listed for what would be Delaware County. Grove was one and Kansas was the other. Kansas failed to attract enough citizens, leaving Grove as the only approved townsite.
An appraisal was made of each lot in the townsite and the“owner”, current occupant, was listed as well as what was on each lot and the appraised value. The next article in this series will look at this 1906 appraisal and who was living in Grove.
Copyright 2007 Rose Stauber
This is the first of a series of articles about Grove’s Beginnings.
When was the town of Grove incorporated? Actually, we don’t know. Which probably is why the town never celebrates its anniversaries. But not to worry. Tulsa doesn’t know when it was incorporated. Nor does Muskogee, or most of the towns in the formerIndian Territory.
Why is that? The question was asked of the archivist at the Fort Worth National Archives. Her reply was that she suspected the court records had gotten a bit wet and been thrown out. We do know that Grove was incorporated by 1900 because the census taker that year, Oliver Mason, used the words on the census“Incorporated Town of Grove.” Mason listed his occupation as druggist.
Jean Bohannan, who researched the town for the county history, "Heritage of the Hills," said that a few records she can no longer find at City Hall, and other now lost papers, led her to the conclusion that the city was incorporated about 1898.
The first preserved copies of the “Grove Sun” on microfilm begin in the last half of 1904. The newspaper was founded by JohnH. Gibson, a prominent business man, four-time mayor of Grove, aCherokee Nation councilor, and a member of the Oklahomalegislature. Many early issues are missing from the record preserved on microfilm including a year from mid-1906 to mid-1907. We wish we could have the record those issues recorded .
In 1902, the Department of the Interior approved the original plat for the Town of Grove. Copies of this plat are available at City Hall and at the Grove Public Library. This was the period that the Dawes Commission was preparing theFinal Roll of the Five Civilized Tribes and allotting the land to those on the roll.
Town sites were another matter that the Dawes Commissionreally wanted nothing to do with. As a result, the Indian Agent atMuskogee was handling town sites. Only two prospective townsitesare listed for what would be Delaware County. Grove was one and Kansas was the other. Kansas failed to attract enough citizens, leaving Grove as the only approved townsite.
An appraisal was made of each lot in the townsite and the“owner”, current occupant, was listed as well as what was on each lot and the appraised value. The next article in this series will look at this 1906 appraisal and who was living in Grove.
Copyright 2007 Rose Stauber
posted by Editor | 3:20 AM
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