Ferguson Features

We had several people come to the Ferguson Market Saturday. It turned out to be a nice day weather wise to have it.

It was brought to our attention this past week that people are still trying to figure out what is going on with the museum so here’s a summary. The state called me in 2014 and said they were stopping any funding of the T. B. Ferguson Home Museum. Mrs. Duncan asked if the Friends of the Ferguson Home wanted to keep it open otherwise they were closing it. We voted to keep it open as long as we could. The City of Watonga has graciously helped all they can and provides some of the city employees to help in a crisis, such last winter when the heater went out and the toilet froze and burst flooding the restroom. We are very grateful for all the City of Watonga has done and is doing. We rely on fundraisers and donations to help keep the doors open and do repairs. This was severely impacted this past year since we couldn’t hold in person events because of Covid-19. This past winter the City of Watonga was finally able to get the title to the building free and clear, this has taken years. First a state law had to be changed so we could buy it back. We are very thankful to Rep. Mike Sanders and Senator Jech for working on that. After signing the contract between State Historical Center and the City of Watonga, the City became aware there was a problem with the title, again this took a few years to correct. No need in going into details there. The Friends of the Ferguson Home tried various time to get repairs done. We started trying right after that hurricane took off part of the balcony railing but no one wanted to deal with the state because of their requirements and heard that it took a while to get paid from the state, even though we were paying for the repairs. It is such a relief to not be under the state now. I know some thought we shouldn’t have pursued it but the state hasn’t helped us since 2014. I’m not belittling OHC we realize they have other things going on too. By the way T. B. Ferguson was one of the founding members of OHC. We have a sign out front stating we are doing restoration. We know it’s hard to read it and drive so unless you stop to read it you probably don’t know what it says. The Ferguson Home is on the Oklahoma Historical register and we are doing our best to stick to those guidelines. I have researched to see what color of paint would have been used in 1901. Clay is trying to do the repairs according to those guidelines. If you have any questions feel free to call us at 590-623-5069.

Carol Dunn, along with her mother and brother lived in the home when it was a boarding house. She said it was kind of like a duplex. The lady that owned it and her two sons lived on the bottom floor and Carol’s family lived on the second floor. She said there was a partition put up, most likely where the arch way is by the north front door, and they used the north door and the owners used the south door. The northwest room on second floor was the kitchen. This was nothing like I had imagined. Someone in the past told me everyone used the same bathroom and kitchen. We were told the wood work was painted pink and all that had to be scraped off when it was turned into the museum but she said it wasn’t pink when they lived there. So anyone I told this to when I was giving a tour I’m sorry for misinforming you. I have watched Clay and Anthony scraping and could only imagine the time and effort that would have taken. Carol told a little story of her and her brother playing in the snow in the yard on the north side of the house and all of a sudden the ice and snow on the roof came siding down. I would love to visit with anyone else that knows anything about the home, please call me at 580- 623-5069. I will come to you or visit with you over the phone, whatever is convenient for you.

I thought it would be nice to know the name of the paper when we tell visitors that he was at Hitchcock getting the paper ready to print when the telegram from President Roosevelt came inviting Ferguson to come to Washington and visit with him about becoming Territorial Governor. I have done a little research but I mentioned it to Barbara and she dug into it deeper this week and found out it was the Hitchcock Vanguard. If we could find a copy of one of them to display that would be nice. I know that OHC probably has a copy but don’t know if we can get one. We’ll check into that more.

Our hours are Wednesday thru Saturday, 10:00 am to 3:00 pm. We welcome volunteers in any capacity and anyone wanting to become a member of the Friends of the Ferguson Home Museum. Call 580-623-5069 for any questions you have. Be sure and leave name and call back number if you get the answering machine because we don’t have caller ID.