President Franklin D. Roosevelt Stops at Vinita Katy Railroad Depot

The dam this crowd asked for had been a Cherokee citizen's idea since the 1890s. Henry C. Holderman wanted electric power for the Cherokee Nation, and in 1895 he and colleagues surveyed the Grand River from a handmade houseboat. He sold his land and borrowed from friends to buy rights to the dam sites, and with a group called the Rainbow Chasers made several trips to Washington. British investors nearly built it in 1914 before the First World War, and the 1929 crash ended a Canadian plan. The Pensacola name came from an old store on a Cherokee plantation.

What the plaque says

President Franklin D. Roosevelt Stops at Vinita Katy Railroad Depot On June 13th, 1936, President Roosevelt stopped his re-election special train in Vinita to honor citizens' request to help fund construction of the Grand River Dam. A large, rowdy crowd estimated at 5,000 greeted him. President Roosevelt thanked the crowd for arranging the event and said he would see what he could do about it when he returned to Washington, D.C. In September 1937, he signed legislation for $20 million to fund the project. Construction began in February 1938. The dam was finished in 1940 and the lake filled by the end of summer. Grand Lake O' the Cherokees has 1,300 miles of scenic shoreline and approximately 50,000 surface acres of water. The dam is located on State Highway 28 near Langley, Oklahoma, some 14 miles southeast of this site.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Cabin Creek Battlefield — 10 mi
  The Texas Road ford in the Cherokee Nation where Stand Watie twice struck at Union supply trains for Fort Gibson, losing in July 1863 and winning 130 wagons in September 1864.
• Coleman Theatre — 22 mi
  A 1929 vaudeville house on Route 66 in Miami, Spanish Colonial outside and Louis XV within, with the only 1928 Mighty Wurlitzer still in the building it was built for.

More markers nearby

• Cabin Creek Battlefield — 11 mi
• Historic Route 66 Ribbon Road - Sidewalk Highway — 17 mi
• Gateway Sign — 22 mi
• Coleman Theatre — 22 mi