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Oklahoma Important Dates
Important Dates in Oklahoma History
1803 The United States acquired most of the area that is now Oklahoma as part of the Louisiana Purchase. The panhandle remained under Spanish control. The Quapaw, Osage, Oto, and other Indian tribes arrived about this time.
1812 Most of present-day Oklahoma became part of the Missouri Territory.
1819 Most of Oklahoma became part of the Arkansas Territory.
1821 Mexico declared its independence from Spain and the panhandle came under Mexican control.
1830 The western part of the Louisiana Purchase, including the Arkansas Territory, was designated as the Indian Territory. The Indian Removal Act set aside lands west of the Mississippi River for Indian settlement and allowed for the removal of Indians from the eastern states to be resettled in the Territory.
1845 The United States annexed the Republic of Texas, including the present-day Oklahoma panhandle.
1850 The United States government purchased the panhandle lands from Texas. The panhandle became "No Man's Land," and was unattached to any state or territory.
1854 The Indian Territory was limited to the area of what is now Oklahoma.
1860 Greer County was created by Texas in present-day Oklahoma. This sparsely-settled area was claimed by Texas and the United States until it was added to Oklahoma in 1896.
1861 - 1865 The Five Civilized Tribes sided primarily with the Confederacy and raised the Confederate Indian Brigade and the Indian Home Guard. They fought in battles in the Arkansas and Oklahoma area. Some Indians enlisted in Union regiments early in the war.
1866 New treaties with the Five Civilized Tribes realigned boundaries and allowed the federal government to move other tribes there. Almost two million acres designated as "Unassigned Lands" was established in central Oklahoma.
1872 Railroads now crossed the territory.
1889 The federal government purchased the "Unassigned Lands" from the Indians and opened them for white settlement. The first land rush attracted about 50,000 people. For historical accounts of the land run of 1889, see Stan Hoig, The Oklahoma Land Rush of 1889 (Oklahoma City: Oklahoma Historical Society, 1984).
1890 - 1906 1890-1906 The Organic Act of 1890 established the Oklahoma Territory. This act organized seven counties in the "Unassigned Lands" and the Oklahoma panhandle ("No Man's Land") and provided for the organization of additional counties as Indian governments were discontinued and surplus land was opened to settlers.
During this time, the Oklahoma Territory expanded to fill western Oklahoma by gradually absorbing the following areas:
The eastern portion of the area continued as Indian Territory.
- Several reservations in central Oklahoma (1891)
- Cheyenne and Arapaho land (1892)
- The "Cherokee Outlet" (1893)
- Greer County (1896)
- Comanche, Kiowa, and Apache lands (1901-1906)
1893 100,000 immigrants were attracted to northwestern Oklahoma when the "Cherokee Outlet" lands were opened.
1897 An oil boom began at Bartlesville and thousands of new settlers arrived.
1907 The Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory, known as the "twin territories," were combined to become the state of Oklahoma.
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