Kingfisher Travel Guide

 mrclay2000 Says:  Part of its Main Street USA area (US-81 in the case of Kingfisher) contains the splendid turn-of-the-century red-brick houses and places of business that have since turned to other uses. Whatever this red brick building had once been, it is now the office of the Pioneer... 

 mrclay2000 Says:  Begun in 1903 but destroyed by a severe storm, the cornerstone of Sts Peter and Paul Catholic Church were eventually laid in 1909. This is by far the most conspicuous and ornate church building in Kingfisher, filled with stained-glass windows and sitting on the southeast... 

 mrclay2000 Says:  Abraham Seay rose from being an officer in the Civil War (his war sword is one of the relics on display downstairs) to a circuit court judge (Missouri District) to Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Oklahoma Territory. For all his wealth, Seay lived at a time when... 

 mrclay2000 Says:  Inside the Seay Mansion, most of the furnishings are authentic relics of the Seay family (the territorial governor is buried in Kingfisher). Whatever happened to the third floor is at present a mystery, but history records that the governor's balls were given there. Built... 

 mrclay2000 Says:  Pronounced 'say' if you are a townsman and 'see' if you are a family member, the Seay Mansion represents what amounts to Oklahoma's first governor's mansion. Built by patriach Abraham Jefferson Seay from about 1892 (during which time he was Oklahoma's territorial governor),... 

 mrclay2000 Says:  Once the Masonic Temple in Kingfisher, this Main Street building has since been resurrected as a movie theater (one screen). Most of the old downtown buildings in the Main Street USA area are now filled (as they are elsewhere) by lawyers' offices, jewelry and knick-knack... 

 mrclay2000 Says:  This interesting structure sits adjacent to the Rock Island Line, which essentially covered the same ground as the Chisholm Trail for transporting cattle from Texas to the rail lines running to the east coast from Kansas. In 1889, this office and a similar one in Guthrie... 

 mrclay2000 Says:  The Bank of Kingfisher Building was constructed by the Doaks brothers almost immediately after the Land Run opened this area to white settlement in April 1889. The fixtures and furnishings were collected from several other banks from nearby Okeene and Hennessey, as well as... 

 mrclay2000 Says:  Next to the Gant School in the Village stands the Harmony Church, a prime example of rural places of worship near 1900. For those familiar with Cades Coves in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, this single-story white structure with an ultra-modest belltower will seem... 

 mrclay2000 Says:  In 1890s Oklahoma (and elsewhere), pupils sometimes traveled for miles to reach the schoolhouse (i.e. which led to the mythology of our parents' walking uphill both to and from school). Before statehood and its accompanying statutes, there was no uniform body of texts from... 

 mrclay2000 Says:  One of the starkest but most appealing of the Village's attractions especially for young visitors is the macabre steel cage -- once an actual jail cell. Of the hundreds of schoolchildren who visit the Chisholm Trail Museum annually, letters back to the curator repeatedly... 

 mrclay2000 Says:  Next to the Cole Cabin is the Dalton Cabin, a similar structure to the former but with wooden floors (somewhat of a class distinction among cabins). While not much different in other respects to the Cole Cabin, the Dalton Cabin was the home of Adaline Dalton, mother of the... 

 mrclay2000 Says:  In the so-called "Kingfisher Village" behind the Chisholm Trail Museum stand several remnants of turn-of-the-century Oklahoma. In the Cole Cabin you'll find Spartan accommodations -- a small twin bed, a dirt floor typical of the era, and a small pot-bellied stove. Chamber... 

 mrclay2000 Says:  In its vast holdings, the Chisholm Trail Museum has a wide variety of agricultural implements and other western and rural accouterments. Early harvesters, threshers, wagons, and buggies fill an entire room, while saddles, eating utensils and a host of other items line every... 

 mrclay2000 Says:  Like many of Oklahoma's smaller towns, one prominent building (or sometimes a silo) often serves for a large mural depicting life in Kingfisher, both past and present. Though some serve as a history lesson, giving dates and figures involved, the mural in Kingfisher (one of... 

 mrclay2000 Says:  El Reno (like Okarche, Kingfisher and Oklahoma City) grew up at the same time with the Land Run of 1889. More important by far than Okarche, El Reno has a wide variety of historical attractions to compete with Kingfisher for the tourism "donation." (Most museums here are... 

 mrclay2000 Says:  If you're traveling to El Reno from Kingfisher, you'll pass through the village of Okarche (pop. 1,100). Okarche has few buildings of note but supports a popular and famous restaurant known statewide as Eischen's Bar (or Eischen's Chicken). Otherwise there are a few large...