Washington Irving

Henry G. Bennett, the college president among the sponsors, had come to Stillwater in 1928 from the state teachers' college at Durant and announced a Twenty-five Year Plan for what was then a small, academically weak school. By 1951 enrollment had passed twelve thousand and dozens of buildings worth more than $50 million had been built or renovated. In 1950 President Truman chose him to direct the Point Four Program. Bennett and his wife were killed in a plane crash near Tehran on December 22, 1951. The campus chapel bears his name.

What the plaque says

The camp of Washington Irving, the first American litterateur, was established near this spot October 20, 1832, during a tour on the prairies. This marker was erected October 20, 1932, by school children, original settlers of Oklahoma, and citizens of the vicinity. Its erection was sponsored by Oklahoma Historical Society, Hon. Chas. F. Colcord, Pres., and Hon. Joseph B. Thoburn, Curator; by Oklahoma A. & M. College, Dr. Henry G. Bennett, Pres.; and by the Payne County Committee, Mrs. Corinne Hart, Superintendent of Public Instruction, and Hon. Frank C. Orner.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Pawnee Nation Museum — 17 mi
  The Pawnee Nation's own museum in Pawnee, keeping the Nation's objects and the record of a military tradition it traces from the Pawnee Scouts of 1864 to the code talkers of World War II.

More markers nearby

• World Famous Athlete Jim Thorpe — steps away
• Turkey Track Ranch — 9.2 mi
• Outlaw Battle — 11 mi
• Oak Park Cemetery — 13 mi