How the Cherokee Strip Run built downtown Arkansas City
Arkansas City's 58-building historic district grew out of the boom before the 1893 land run.
By Jolene Marquardt
Downtown Arkansas City owes a lot to one day in 1893.
On Sept. 16, 1893, the federal government opened the Cherokee Strip in what is now Oklahoma to settlers. Arkansas City was one of the few gateways for the run. For years beforehand, people expected the land to open, and would-be settlers moved to town to wait. Its population swelled, and so did business.
The Arkansas City Commercial Historic District, around Summit Street and Fifth Avenue, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. It covers about 21 acres and 58 contributing buildings in the Classical Revival, Italianate and Queen Anne styles. According to its nomination, the district matters beyond the local level because of that link to the run, which many historians see as the close of the American frontier.