Kingfisher

Kingfisher wanted more than a land office. When Oklahoma Territory was organized in 1890, the town vied with Oklahoma City and Guthrie for the capital. Kingfisher's and Oklahoma City's men agreed to vote for Oklahoma City first and, if Governor George W. Steele vetoed it, for Kingfisher next, but Kingfisher residents quietly petitioned Steele for that veto. He vetoed Oklahoma City, discovered the double game and vetoed Kingfisher as well. In 1892 Governor Abraham J. Seay built Horizon Hill just west of town as a hoped-for governor's mansion, then gave up the capital to win biennial elections.

What the plaque says

Kingfisher This was U. S. Land Office site for filing claims at opening of "Old Oklahoma," April 22, 1889; also, at opening of Cheyenne and Arapaho lands on April 19, 1892. J. C. Robberts was first Register, and J. V. Admire, first Receiver. First postoffice, Lisbon, estab- lished April 20, 1889; name chang- ed to Kingfisher, July 18, 1889. Oklahoma Historical Society and State Highway Commission 1950

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• The Chisholm — 1.1 mi
  Kingfisher's farming and ranching museum on the Chisholm Trail's stage branch, with a heritage village and Horizon Hill, the mansion a territorial governor built for a capital that never came.
• Historic Fort Reno — 22 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

• Historical Society Birthplace — 0.2 mi
• Kingfisher Stage Station — 0.5 mi
• Kingfisher College — 1.5 mi
• Run of '92 — 1.6 mi