Tahlequah FIRSTS - Tahlequah, OK
Posted by: 
hamquilter
N 35° 54.737 W 094° 58.274
15S E 322129 N 3976014
This marker highlights three events that happened FIRST in the town of Tahlequah.
Waymark Code: WMPBRX
Location: Oklahoma, United States
Date Posted: 08/05/2015
Views: 1
On the grounds of the Cherokee National Capitol stands a very old bronze marker. It is not dated and was provided as a public service by the citizens of Tahlequah.
The three events which happened FIRST in this area are:
1. The Cherokee Advocate was the FIRST newspaper in Indian Territory, which later became Oklahoma, and, at the time, the only tribal-owned and published newspaper in the United States when it was first published on September 26, 1844. (
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2. Near this marker in 1848 the FIRST Masonic lodge was established in what is now Oklahoma. (
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3. The FIRST telephone in this country was put in operation here in 1885. "One of the first telephone lines west of the Mississippi River, if not the first, was built by E. D. Hicks, in the year 1886, or but ten short years after the invention of the telephone, and ran from Tahlequah to Muskogee." (
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The historical marker at this location reads:
HISTORIC TAHLEQUAH / The Cherokee Advocate owned by the Cherokee Nation was published here. It was printed in Cherokee and English. One half block west in 1848 the first Masonic lodge was established in what is now Oklahoma. The first telephone in this country was put in operation here in 1885. Erected as a public service by the citizens of Tahlequah."
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