Tahlequah Things to Do

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Northeastern State University, originally founded by the Cherokee Nation as the Tahlequah Female Seminary, in 1891, is the oldest institution of higher learning in Oklahoma and one of the oldest west of the Mississippi River. It offers degrees in 69 areas of study, and boasts the highest Native American enrollment of any university in America.

Being a university town means that Tahlequah has an abundance of cultural and athletic events and continuing education opportunities. The university also gives access to genealogical research collections specific to Native American and regional history.

The main campus of Northeastern is in Tahlequah, with branch campuses in Broken Arrow and Muskogee.

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The Ivy-Duncan-Dannenburg Home, also known as the Jim Duncan Home, sits on Brookside, just across the street from the city park. It was built, Circa. 1888, by Augustus Ivey, a prominent Tahlequah businessman, and was sold to the James Duncan family. Mr. Duncan was a land surveyor, a teacher, and a farmer. In the front lawn of the home is a springhouse which was a source of drinking water for early residents, as well as a cool place for storing milk and butter.

In 1965 the City of Tahlequah purchased the home and converted it into a multi-use community center.

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This beautiful park stretches for several blocks along Town Creek in Tahlequah. It roughly parallels Muskogee Street, the main street of town, and runs about three blocks to the east of it.

The park has picnic areas and playgrounds, and is a great place to just relax on a park bench or take a stroll. There is also a small but pretty waterfall. Sitting just to the east of the Park is the historic Ivy-Duncan-Dannenburg Home, which is the subject of my next tip.

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The Cherokee Nation has always placed a preminum on education. In 1846 the Cherokee National Council aurhorized the establishment of two institutions of higher learning, the Cherokee National Male Seminary and the Cherokee National Female Seminary. Both schools were opened in 1851. Over the years these two schools have grown and evolved to become Northeastern State University (NSU).

Seminary Hall (pictured) was built to replace the original female seminary at Park Hill burned to the ground on Easter Sunday, 1887. The new structure was completed in 1889 and is still the signature building on the campus of NSU.

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This home was built by William Alston in 1906. It was later owned by D. R. Bedwell, a biology professor at the local Northeastern State University.

The two story frame house is of the Free Classic subset of the Queen subset of the Queen Anne school, also called the Carpenter Gothic style, popular from 1870-1910. This style of house lacks the ornamentation often used in the Victorian era. The only ornamentation are details along the frieze, saw-tooth moulding below the window sills and sunburst in the gables.

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The quaint Powell-Antoine Home was built in 1905 on land once owned by Cherokee Chief Downing. The street in front of the house is named for him.

This is another historic house on the walking tour that is built in the Victorian Style, evidenced by the wrap around porches and spindle work. Other interesting characteristics of this house are the wooden shingles covering the tower and the small stained glass panes above clear panes of glass, also typically Victorian.

The Powell-Antoine House is a private residence.

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In 1805, two years before Oklahoma was admitted to the Union as the 47th state, this library was built, financed in part by a grant of $10,000 from Andrew Carnegie. It is still an active library today, although a modern new addition has been added.

Andrew Carnegie, an industrialist and philanthropist, gave millions of dollars from his vast wealth to build libraries in thousands of communities. Carnegie built 2,811 free libraries in all. Of these, 1,946 were located in the United States – at least one in every state except Rhode Island. He also built 660 libraries in Great Britain and Ireland and 156 in Canada. A handful of libraries were also scattered in places like New Zealand, the West Indies and Fiji. His generosity even extended into the Indian Territory called Oklahoma.

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The Johnson Thompson House, built in 1880, was the residence of the wealthy Tahlequah merchant who also built the two earlier homes on the tour, for his son and daughter. It is in yet another style than the previous two houses, the Italianate Style, which was popular from the 1840s to the mid-1880s. The style featured a low-pitched roof with overhanging eaves, often having decorative brackets underneath. Windows were tall and narrow and arched above.

Such fine homes as these help to illustrate the fact that here in what was Indian Territory, many of the people, far from being nomadic savages, lived lifestyles that were more advanced than those of the white settlers who had driven them from their original homelands. Many were also of mixed ancestry, having both European and Native American blood as well as both Indian and Anglo-Saxon names.