After finalizing an agreement between the Friends of the Ferguson Home, a notfor- profit educational organization, and the City of Watonga, the owner of the Ferguson Home, at the April city council meeting, progress is being made at this important Watonga/Blaine County landmark.
The home built by the Fergusons in 1901 honors the TB Ferguson family who, while living in this beautiful home, helped build Watonga and our state.
On May 6, 25 Watonga freshman students and three Watonga High School teachers visited the home. After an introduction on the porch by Secretary Joe Bryan, students toured the parlor, music room and dining room. Vice President Esther Arnold gave an interesting tour of the kitchen including the original sink which was installed long before running water was available. Teresa Bryan and Janice Hood gave tours of the second-floor bedrooms, balcony area where the Ferguson’s granddaughter enjoyed sleeping (long before air conditioning), and bathroom. Linda Barrett talked with the students about the various land runs (Fergusons staked property in the 1889 and 1893 runs, but settled in Watonga six months after the 1892 Cheyenne-Arapaho area run. Linda showed a clip of the land run in the movie Cimarron, the Academy Award winning movie made from the book by Edna Ferber loosely written about the Fergusons.
Outside, Roy Espy told the students about the 1893 Watonga jail and the 1880s cavalry station formerly on the North Canadian River used by buffalo soldiers from Ft. Reno, Ft. Sill and Ft. Supply.
On May 6, the Friends hosted the annual Ferguson Tea. Seventy ladies attended the tea organized by Janine Espy with help from many others. There was live entertainment, a reading by President Connie Burcham from Elva Ferguson’s book “They Carried the Torch” about early Oklahoma newspapers, plenty of sandwiches and dessert, and of course tea made by Roy Espy.
Four new members joined the Friends of the Ferguson, (now 43) and the funds raised will be used in support of the many artifacts owned by the Friends housed in the museum.
The Friends of the Ferguson hope to have funding for a site director soon so we can keep regular hours. Some 55,000 persons visited the Ferguson Home in its first 15 years as a museum. Perhaps we can break that record and add to the tourism of our area.