Council Grove

Montford T. Johnson was born in November 1843 on the Blue River north of present Tishomingo, the son of an Englishman, Charles B. Johnson, and Rebekah Courtney, a Chickasaw. Raised by his grandmother's family and often ill, he started his first ranch in 1868 near present Washington, hiring Jack Brown, a Chickasaw freedman, to run it and share in it. His ranches came to reach from Johnsonville near Byars west to Newcastle, Chickasha and Tuttle, and his Silver City store had the Chisholm Trail for a main street. He died near Minco on February 17, 1896.

What the plaque says

Council Grove This location marks the southeast corner of Council Grove, a three-and- one-half square mile section rich in history. The land was heavily wooded, creating an ideal meeting place for the Muscogee (Creek), Kiowa, and Comanche nations with shady areas abounding with cottonwood and elm trees. Jesse Chisholm, a trader of Scottish and Cherokee descent, opened a trading post in Council Grove in 1858. Chisholm encouraged cattle rancher Montford T. Johnson (Chickasaw) to establish a ranch in the area. Vicey Hermon (or Harmon, Chickasaw) managed the ranch, also known as "Johnson's Grove," which became known as the first permanent settlement in present-day Oklahoma City. In 1874, the federal government established a military reservation within Council Grove to provide wood for the construction of Fort Reno. David Payne established a Boomer camp in Council Grove in 1880. In 1885, William Couch announced his intentions to colonize present-day Oklahoma County near Johnson's ranch, only to be removed by the U.S. cavalry. All of Council Grove except for the military reservation was opened to settlement on April 22, 1889. The Council Grove military reservation opened to settlement in December 1899.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum — 5.7 mi
  The outdoor memorial and museum on the site of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, where 168 people were killed at 9:02 a.m. on April 19, 1995, shaped by the families and survivors.
• First Americans Museum — 7.9 mi
  The museum of the 39 First American nations in Oklahoma today, on the Oklahoma River, with galleries shaped by each nation, Smithsonian objects brought home and a 90-foot mound.
• Historic Fort Reno — 24 mi
  The Army post beside the Cheyenne and Arapaho agency at Darlington, from which troops chased the Northern Cheyenne north in 1878, later a remount station and a prisoner-of-war camp.

More markers nearby

• Delmar Garden — 4.9 mi
• Joseph Bradfield Thoburn — 6.2 mi
• Chisholm Trail — 8.1 mi
• Oklahoma's First Television Station Channel 4 — 8.8 mi