May is National Preservation Month. As part of the celebration of the many heritage sites we have in Blaine County, the Friends of the Ferguson Home are hosting Dr. Kay Decker of Alva to speak at 6 p.m. on Thursday, May 22 at the Watonga Public Library. She will speak on preservation as an important aspect of a community’s authentic identity and how preservation adds value to tourism, education and increases sales tax revenues to cities and towns.
Of course, one of the showcase properties that we are preserving is the T.B. Ferguson Home in Watonga and the associated U.S. Cavalry facility and 1883 Watonga Jail. Just this past week, several visitors from out of town came by, including one who was interested in one of the (in)famous inmates held in the Blaine County/Watonga jail, Conrad Maas. Maas, a German army officer and minor nobleman, married a commoner and moved to Bridgeport in southwest Blaine County. He murdered his wife and thereafter was incarcerated in the wooden jail now located behind the Ferguson mansion. We found entries in the jail log where he was held twice before being transferred to McAlester. In McAlester, he demonstrated amazing artistic ability as a painter.
Other visitors this week to the museum included 27 Watonga High School students and 56 third graders. These visits are an integral part of instilling the pioneering spirit of territorial and early statehood heritage in our youth.
While we continue to make progress on replacing trim, scraping and priming the outside wood on the mansion and refurbishing the picket fence, there remains much to do to put the 1901 mansion back into its 1972 museum prime.
We received several items that Mrs. Ferguson had given to Cowboy and Dr. Virginia Curtin including a signed copy of Elva Ferguson’s Book “They Carried the Torch…”. Another item, a photo taken in 1972 at the opening of the museum, shows Ellen Shaw, Senator Roy Boecher and Representative Bill Gooden, the legislators responsible for funding to renovate the mansion. The photo shows the balcony complete with banisters. I look forward to the preservation/restoration of this unique area so we can use the second- floor balcony again for band concerts and other activities.