Durant

Williams came to Durant from Alabama. He was born on December 20, 1868, near Brundidge in Pike County, passed the Alabama bar in 1891, and took bachelor's and master's degrees from Southern University at Greensboro in 1892 and 1894. After the Cherokee Outlet opened in 1893 he practiced law briefly at Orlando, went back to Alabama, and returned to settle in Durant in 1897, where he became the Democratic National Committeeman for Indian Territory. At the constitutional convention he worked with Charles N. Haskell and William H. Murray, and he became the Supreme Court's first chief justice.

What the plaque says

Durant Home of Robert Lee Williams, one of Oklahoma's foremost citizens. Member Constitutional Convention; Chief Justice State Supreme Court; and Governor, 1915-19. Later, was Judge on U.S. District Court, and Judge on U.S. Appeals Court, 10th Circuit at time of death, 1948. Was President of Oklahoma Histori- cal Society since 1938. Oklahoma Historical Society and State Highway Commission 1949

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Choctaw Cultural Center — 3.1 mi
  The Choctaw Nation's history told from the Chahta side at Calera, with galleries from Nanih Waiya to the Trail of Tears and the reservation today, a living village and daily stickball.
• Chickasaw National Capitol — 24 mi
  The red granite capitol the Chickasaw Nation finished at Tishomingo in 1898, forced out of at statehood, used as the county courthouse for most of a century and reclaimed by the Nation in 1992.

More markers nearby

• Fisher's Station — 4.4 mi
• Nail's Crossing — 9.5 mi
• Fort McCulloch — 11 mi
• Colbert's Ferry — 12 mi