Oklahoma City Research Paper

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How Oklahoma City Became the Capital of Oklahoma
Many people know the Oklahoma’s state flower is the Oklahoma Rose, the state animal is the buffalo, and the state flag honors the state’s Native American heritage by including an Osage warrior’s shield with an olive branch, a peace pipe, and seven eagle feathers on a blue background. Additionally, many people know that official salute is: “I salute the flag of the State of Oklahoma. Its symbols of people unite all people.” But how many people know that a vote in 1910 determined that the state capital should be moved from Guthrie to what was then known as Oklahoma Station, which since 1923 is known as Oklahoma City?
The United States obtained most of the land that is now Oklahoma in 1803 when the country paid France $15 million for the Louisiana Purchase. In 1890, the United States Congress passed an act that officially created the Oklahoma Territory. During its years as a territory, the United States government declared Guthrie to be the capital of the area despite the fact that a number of other towns wanted to be the capital. At the time, Guthrie was a railroad station stop on the Southern Kansas Railway, and it had a post office. Within hours of the United States government’s announcement that “Unassigned Lands” in a two million acre section of the Indian …show more content…

Along with creating a Constitutional Convention that was charged with writing a state constitution, the act specified that the capital of the state of Oklahoma would remain in Guthrie for a minimum of six years. On June 11, 1910, 135,944 people let their preference be known about which city should be the capital of the state. Of the ballots casted, 96,261 votes were for relocating the capital to Oklahoma City, 31,301 voters wanted to Guthrie to remain the state’s capital, and 8,382 people wanted to move the capital to Shawnee. The voters overwhelmingly wanted Oklahoma City to be the state