I hope you had a memorable and safe 250^th celebration of the anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.  Last week, we reprinted T.B. Ferguson’s account of the 1894 Independence Day celebration in Watonga. https://fergusonhomemuseum.org/independence-day-watonga-1894/

Photo of Independence Day 1907

I found this photo from Oklahoma History of the 1907 Celebration in Watonga from Oklahoma History https://www.oklahomahistory.org

T.B. Ferguson and Oklahoma Statehood

Independence Day, yesteryear as today, is an important event.  One of the goals of T.B. Ferguson was to help Oklahoma become a state.  He promoted the Oklahoma Territory exhibit in the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair to show the world Oklahoma was ready for statehood https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_Purchase_Exposition.  The 1905 Sequoyah Constitutional Convention was later used as the basis Oklahoma State constitution https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=SE021. The Enabling Act of 1906allowed Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory to become a single state. Oklahoma Constitution.

Constitutional Convention

The state constitutional convention with 115 delegates convened Nov. 1906 through March 15, 1907, just months before this picture was taken.  Shortly after this picture, on September 17, 1907, citizens of Oklahoma and Indian Territories ratified the constitution by popular vote. 

Oklahoma becomes a state

Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed Oklahoma a state Nov. 17, 1907.https://www.archives.gov/legislative/features/oklahoma and announced full statehood to the United States Congress December 3, 1907.