Ferguson Features

We had two teenage boys come for a tour this week, they said they were interested in history. So good to hear young people still are interested in history.

Sandra our newest member of Friends of the Ferguson Home was out Saturday working in the flower beds. The flower beds have been neglected all summer. Thank you Sandra.

The men replaced the columns on the front porch this past weekend. It takes time for one person and sometimes two to scrape and repair or replace boards that are rotten or have termite damage from a few years ago. Clay is very meticulous with how he does this. You can’t just go at it gung ho because of causing more damage to the wood. Clay has taken his time to drive from Oklahoma City one to three days a week rarely missing a week unless weather didn’t cooperate. Anthony comes with him when he can but he has a full time job and can only come on his days off. We are blessed to have them volunteer to do this.

There is a pie safe in the kitchen of the home. I looked and found several that look just like ours but since I don’t know what kind of wood ours is made of I don’t know what region of the US that it came from. They were made from different wood depending on where they were made. The pie safe, also called a pie chest, and meat safe, was used to store not only pies, but bread, meat, and other perishables as well, to protect them. Some had holes in the door panels and or on the sides to let heat escape. The method of letting food cool when animals and children were not around was to leave the doors open.

Continuing on with history of the Fergusons. The President was favorably impressed and a telegram was sent to Ferguson at Watonga telling to come to Washington at once with a view of receiving the appointment. When the telegram arrived, Ferguson was at Hitchcock about 16 miles north, getting out an issue of their weekly newspaper which “Hitchcock Vanguard.” Mrs. Ferguson decided that she wanted him to be governor, so she answered the telegram saying he would accept and would leave by the first train for Washington. Mrs. Ferguson bought his railroad ticket, had his traveling bag packed and everything ready for his departure when he reached home late that evening. After Mr. Ferguson read the telegram and the answer Mrs. Ferguson sent, he declined to accept and said that since Mrs. Ferguson had acted without his consent that she could send another telegram saying that he did not want the job. But Mrs. Ferguson had not come in contact with his Scottish stubbornness for years without learning how to manage in such cases, so he went to Washington as she had planned. Ferguson got the approval of the President and the Secretary of the Interior and he returned home with the commission.

It was customary to hold elaborate inaugural ceremonies for a new governor, but Ferguson firmly refused all display, remarking that if the people of the territory, at the end of his term, deemed him worthy, hold the celebration then. So T. B. Ferguson, the sixth territorial Governor of Oklahoma Territory, took the oath of office in the presence of a few friends. All the people did celebrate at the end of four years! More to follow.

The hours of operations are Wednesday – Saturday 10:00 am to 3:00 pm. Closed state and federal holidays. Call 580-623-5069 for information or to schedule a tour or event at times we are not open. A couple came from Louisiana a few years ago to get married in the home. They used a local person to perform the ceremony. We ask them how they found us and they told us they had done research and wanted to come here. The inside of the home is beautiful and there has been several new antiques donated in the last few months so would be worth your time to come for a tour if you haven’t been here in a while.