Press Release
August 7, 2024
Contact: CJ Budy
Cherokee Strip Regional Heritage Center, Oklahoma Historical Society
Office: 580-237-1907
christopher.budy@history.ok.gov
www.csrhc.org
New Exhibit at Cherokee Strip Regional Heritage Center to Offer a Larger Perspective on 1893 Cherokee Outlet Opening
ENID, Okla. — A new exhibit at the Cherokee Strip Regional Heritage Center will focus on what was happening in the United States during the 1893 Cherokee Outlet Opening. “A Broader View: The 1893 Land Run in an Era of American Change” opens on Tuesday, August 13. It will use the Cherokee Outlet Opening to examine the broader changes occurring across the nation.
Comprising approximately seven million acres, the Cherokee Outlet was acquired by the Cherokee Nation under the Treaty of New Echota in 1835. Following the Civil War, the United States forced the Cherokee Nation to relinquish some lands in the Cherokee Outlet to create reservations for other tribal nations. Remaining lands in the Outlet opened to settlement at noon on September 16, 1893. Tens of thousands of individuals participated in the largest land run in Oklahoma history.
The Cherokee Outlet Opening occurred in a year that marked immense change throughout the United States. A stock market crash and widespread bank closures triggered the Panic of 1893, which was the worst economic depression until the Great Depression in the 1930s. While the Columbian Exposition in Chicago sought to highlight American progress and ingenuity, an agricultural crisis and widespread labor unrest exposed growing inequality. Immigration was an important issue as well, specifically an influx of migrants from southern and eastern Europe.
“A Broader View” will expand visitors’ understanding of the context in which the 1893 land run took place. The exhibit will display advancements in mass production while speaking to contributions made by industrialists and labor organizations. Deteriorating work conditions prompted many to take a chance on the land run, where men and women assumed new roles to promote political causes and establish homesteads and businesses. The exhibit will be open through Saturday, November 2.
For more information about the Cherokee Strip Regional Heritage Center, please visit csrhc.org or call 580-237-1907.
The Cherokee Strip Regional Heritage Center is a division of the Oklahoma Historical Society. The mission of the Oklahoma Historical Society is to collect, preserve and share the history and culture of the state of Oklahoma and its people. Founded in 1893 by members of the Territorial Press Association, the OHS maintains museums, historic sites and affiliates across the state. Through its research archives, exhibits, educational programs and publications the OHS chronicles the rich history of Oklahoma. For more information about the OHS, please visit www.okhistory.org.
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Editor’s Note: Photos of the Cherokee Strip Regional Heritage Center are available upon request.
