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Category: Bryan County, Oklahoma
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Nail’s Crossing
Nail’s Crossing also known as Nail’s Station was named for Jonathan Nail who moved from Doaksville to Blue County in the early 1850s. He built a six room double cabin on the east side of the Blue River. Jonathan, his wife Catherine, and son Joel were listed in Blue County in the 1855 Choctaw Census.…
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Robert Lee Williams Public Library
Durant’s first public library was in a frame house located on the corner of Beech and Fourth Avenue. Named in honor of Judge Robert Williams, former governor of Oklahoma, the library was formally opened March 31, 1927. A bond issue was passed in 1936 to construct a new library. Plans were drawn by Jewell Hicks.…
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Robert E. Lee School
In March of 1937 the old South Ward School built in 1908 was torn down to make way for a new modern building. WPA officials ordered thirty-two workers to begin razing the old building which had been renamed Robert E. Lee School several years before. The new building was described as “a one-story structure of…
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National Register of Historic Places
Following are the sites in Bryan County on the National Register of Historic Places:
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Oklahoma Presbyterian College
In 1894, Rev. C. J. Ralston gave money to build a school in Durant in memory of his young son, Calvin, who had drowned at Armstrong Academy. The school operated for a few years as Calvin Institute, was renamed Durant Presbyterian College, and later became Oklahoma Presbyterian College. The administration building, a three story red…
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Colbert’s Ferry
In 1853, Benjamin Franklin Colbert received permission from the Chickasaw Nation to operate a ferry where the Texas Road crossed the Red River. When the Butterfield Overland Mail began in 1858, Colbert’s Ferry became the last stage stop in the Indian Territory. Colbert maintained the road and transported the stage across the river free of…
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Bloomfield Seminary
Rev. J. H. Carr, a Methodist missionary, was sent to the Chickasaw Nation to establish a boarding school for girls. In the spring of 1852 he selected a site on a wooded hill surrounded by prairie. Rev. Carr lived in a tent while supervising the building. He was visited by Jackson Kemp who called the…
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Armstrong Academy
The Choctaw Nation opened Armstrong Academy December 2, 1845 as a school for boys. Named for the Indian agent William Armstrong, the Academy was located three miles northeast of the present town of Bokchito. In addition to studying reading, writing, geography, and math, the boys spent two or three hours a day in manual farm…
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Bryan County Courthouse
The Constitutional Convention designated Durant as the temporary seat of Bryan County in 1906. The county held an election to select a permanent seat on September 9, 1908. The candidates were Blue, Bokchito, Durant, and Sterrett. Durant received 2,803 votes out of 4,450. Court was held in the Steger Building at the northwest corner of…