Follow the Washington Irving Trail
and discover the history
behind some of Oklahoma's
most dramatic events!
Off the Beaten Path and Out of the Ordinary...
|
|
You will be pleasantly surprised when you discover one of Oklahoma's best-kept secrets -- an off-the-beaten-path museum filled with exhibits about Oklahoma's fascinating past. You'll learn about early-day explorers, lawmen and outlaws, a Civil War battle, and the beginnings of country music. The Gerald Johnson wing includes an extensive collection of early Southwest Indian artifacts.
The Washington Irving Trail Museum was honored in the fall of 2002 by the American Association for State and Local History (AASLH). At the association's annual meeting in Portland, Oregon, museum curator Dale Chlouber accepted a Certificate of Commendation for the museum's exhibits about Payne County history.
The exhibits of the Washington Irving Trail Museum have been recognized by
the American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) with a Certificate
of Commendation. The AASLH awards program is the nation's most prestigious
program for recognizing achievement in the preservation and interpretation of
local, state, and regional history. The Washington Irving Trail Museum is proud to be among those honored for outstanding achievement by the
AASLH.
Recently, the museum added a new room called "History's Forgotten Treasures."
The exhibits feature rare and unusual artifacts, linking the past to the
present through objects that tell a story and show that history is often found in
unexpected places.
The Mehan Road has now been paved. As a result, more people are enjoying the
short drive through the countryside from Highway 51 to the Washington Irving
Trail Museum. In June of 2005, around 75 members of Oklahoma's Christian
Motorcycle Association visited the museum while on a tour of Payne County.
 |
Washington Irving, author of "Rip van Winkle" and "The
Legend of Sleepy Hollow," was America's first internationally acclaimed writer. In
1832, he accompanied Captain Jesse Bean and his U.S. Rangers on an adventurous trip
through what is now central Oklahoma. He described this journey in A Tour on the
Prairies, and his colorful account of Oklahoma before settlement provides a vivid
description of the landscape before it was changed by encroaching civilization. The site of the encampment of October 20, 1832, is at the location of The Washington Irving Trail Museum. |
|
On September 1, 1893, one of the deadliest gun battles in the history
of the West took place at Ingalls, Oklahoma Territory, four miles northeast of the museum.
Three U.S. marshals and two bystanders were slain during the battle. The gunfight marked the beginning of the end for the Doolin-Dalton gang, with all of the gang members eventually captured or killed. The story of the infamous shoot-out has been the subject of songs, books, and movies over the years. If you are interested in the lawmen and outlaws of early Oklahoma, visit Oklahombres and learn more about this storied part of Oklahoma's past and the organization formed to preserve its history. |
 |
Commercial country and western band music began in Ripley, Oklahoma,
just six miles southeast of The Washington Irving Trail Museum. Billy McGinty was the
first sponsor of the band, but it was Otto Gray who took the cowboy musicians on the road
for more than a decade, making records, films and attracting large audiences across the
country. The museum is located on the farm homesteaded by Otto Gray's family and contains photographs, recordings, and other memorabilia related to Otto Gray and his Oklahoma Cowboys, including his wife, "Mommie," who was one of the first female country singers on stage and over the radio. |
 |
Billy McGinty was a genuine Oklahoma cowboy with Teddy Roosevelt's
Rough Riders in the Spanish-American War. He joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show and was
later named America's bronc-riding champion. His family lived near Ingalls, and his father-in-law, Dr. Jacob Pickering, wrote an eyewitness account of the gun battle between the Doolin-Dalton gang and U.S. marshals. Billy McGinty also served as sponsor of the nation's first western band, which went on the air over KFRU, in Bristow, Oklahoma in 1925. During his 90 years, Billy McGinty lived a large part of America's Western history. The
Washington Irving Trail Museum nominated Billy McGinty to the National |
 |
On April 7, 2001, the Washington Irving Trail Museum
unveiled an exhibit about David L. Payne and the Oklahoma Boomers. Payne was called
the "Father of Oklahoma" by early settlers, and Payne County bears his name.
Payne didn't live to see the run of 1889, but in 1995 his body was moved from
Wellington, Kansas, to the David L. Payne Memorial on the shores of Boomer Lake, just
north of Stillwater. |
 |
Artifacts from the Gerald Johnson Collection are exhibited in the Gerald Johnson wing of the museum. This outstanding collection reflects the man behind it: Gerald Johnson. A Payne County native who is a passionate collector of artifacts of the Southwest and pioneer days, Johnson has amassed one of the most unusual collections of its kind in the country. The exhibits of the Gerald Johnson Collection will educate, entertain, and -- at times -- amaze you. |
| Other exhibits pay tribute to the pioneers and those who have written about
them, including Western author Glenn Shirley, who helped to preserve Oklahoma's
history.
And the site of the first battle of the Civil War in Oklahoma, the Battle of Round Mountains, was on Washington Irving's route. Although there has been some controversy over the years about the exact location of the battle, most historians believe that it took place near Twin Mounds, in eastern Payne County. |
Open 10 to 5 Wednesday through Saturday and 1 to 5 on Sunday
Location: 6 miles east of Stillwater, Oklahoma, on Highway 51 and 3 miles south on the
Mehan Road
Admission is free.
Address: 3918 South Mehan Road, Ripley, OK 74062
Telephone: 405-624-9130
Or send E-mail
Links
Washington Irving West (www.WashingtonIrvingWest.com)
Stillwater Visitors and Convention Bureau (www.come2stillwater.com)
Washington Irving: Squire of Sunnyside (http://www.hudsonvalley.org/web/sunn-wash.html)
National Cowboy Hall of Fame (http://www.nationalcowboymuseum.org/)
Oklahoma Historical Society (http://www.ok-history.mus.ok.us/)
Oklahombres (http://www.oklahombres.org/)
Payne County Historical Society (http://cowboy.net/non-profit/pchs/)
Sheerar Museum (http://www.sheerarmuseum.org/)