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P.O. Box 19423
Lenexa,
KS 66285
913-708-5119
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OKLAHOMA LEGENDS
El Reno -
Home of the Land Rush
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El Reno,
Oklahoma
Vintage
Postcard
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Just west of Yukon,
Oklahoma
lies the old
Route 66
town of
El Reno,
Oklahoma.
Built at the intersection of two historic highways – the Old
Chisholm
Trail and
Route 66, the town’s less than 20,000 residents are enthusiastic
Mother Road
boosters.
Before the town of
El Reno
was born, a man by the name of Jesse Chisholm established the
Chisholm
Trail in 1866, where hundreds of herds of cattle would be driven north
from Texas
to Kansas
where they would be loaded on trains headed to the east. On top
of Concho Hill north of present day
El Reno,
the Caddo Springs Stage Station was established and soon became a
major stopping point between Wichita,
Kansas
and Fort Sill,
Oklahoma.
In
the same year the
Cheyenne-Arapaho
Reservation was established by a treaty negotiated, in part by
Black
Kettle,
considered the greatest chief of the Southern
Cheyennes. Black
Kettle
was later killed by
General George Custer at the
Battle of the Washita on November, 1868
near the present town of Cheyenne,
Oklahoma. The
Cheyenne and
Arapaho
tribes were moved
from eastern
Colorado to land south of the
Arkansas
River. The Darlington
Indian
Agency was established in August, 1869 three miles north and two miles
west of present day
El Reno.
The settlement and the agency took its name from Brinton Darlington,
the agency’s first superintendent. Soon, the
Cheyenne
Indian
School was established two miles north of Darlington in 1871.
In 1874, Fort Reno
was established to quell the unrest among the
Indians
in the region. First known as
the "Camp Near
Cheyenne Agency," the
location was later named Fort Reno in 1876 in honor of Major General
Jesse L. Reno, who had been killed in the
Civil War.
The
soldiers soon built a stockade where Lieutenant
General Philip Sheridan
conducted his
Indian campaigns from headquarters established at the fort.
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Fort Reno Panographic, 1891
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Oklahoma Land Run
This image available for
photographic prints and
downloads
HERE!
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Soon the United States Cavalry units calmed down the uprisings in the area
but stayed on to maintain the peace.
On April 22, 1889, the unassigned lands of the area were
opened up for settlement, which quickly became known as the great
Oklahoma land run. When the signal was given along the outer boundaries, the Fort Reno
soldiers
were assigned to keep order among the many rushing pioneers flooding the
area.
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No sooner was the land opened for settlement when the Rock Island Railroad
began to build a line from Caldwell,
Kansas to the south bank of the
Canadian River. Near Fort Reno, a settlement had sprung up called
Reno City, which quickly decided to relocate nearer the railroad. Buildings, pioneers and businesses wasted no time uprooting and moving the
entire town which they called
El
Reno. In January, 1890, the first train
arrived in the community, which quickly became a rail center for the
productive wheat harvests of Canadian County. In March of 1890,
El Reno was named the county
seat. In 1892 and again
in 1894, additional unassigned lands were opened up to settlers, which
brought more people to the new settlement of
El
Reno.
On August 6, 1901 the old Irving
School in
El Reno was the site of the
lottery drawing for the last free territory land for settlement. These lands formerly allocated to the Wichita, Caddo,
Comanche,
Kiowa, and
Apache tribes
were the final lands opened to white settlers.
When
Route 66
was built,
El
Reno, like hundreds of its counter part cities,
quickly obliged its many travelers with a crop of restaurants, motels and
service stations along the road.
Today,
El
Reno provides travelers with a peek at many old
icons of the
Mother Road
as well as a look at the
Old West. Take a ride on the Heritage Express Trolley, the only rail based trolley
in
Oklahoma and be sure to
visit the Canadian County Historical Museum in the fully restored old Rock
Island Depot that features all manner of area history.
Continued Next
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Fort El Reno Cavalry Barracks today, November,
2005,
Kathy Weiser.
This image available for
photographic prints and downloads
HERE!
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Fort El Reno Chapel today, November, 2005,
Kathy Weiser.
This image available for
photographic prints and downloads
HERE!
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Fort El Reno Commisary and Weapons Magazine,
November, 2005, Kathy Weiser.
This image available for
photographic prints and downloads
HERE! |

Book your
lodging right
HERE online
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From the Rocky Mountain General Store
The
Whole 66 Package -
EZ66 Guide,
Eight
State Map Series,
Route 66 Dining & Lodging Guide,
and Images of 66. Retails for $73.80, but you get it here for $66.95.
Save money on the books and on shipping. Ships Priority Mail.

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