Until 1898, with passage of the Curtis Act, most towns in Indian Territory were unorganized and unincorporated with no city government. The Curtis Act allowed for municipal governments to be formed. Muskogee incorporated and established its government that year, as did many other towns in Indian Territory.

The Curtis Act also allowed the establishment of townsite commissions, consisting of three individuals for each town. One commissioner was to be appointed by the Secretary of the Interior, a second appointed by the Indian Nation where the town was located and a third chosen by the citizens of the town.

These three commissioners had the enormous task of creating a survey of the city, preparing a plat map, and appraising the value of each newly created lot and block. The commission would also lay out the streets and alleys and designate areas for public parks.

Imagine what Indian Territory towns looked like with no paved streets, no lots or blocks, no ownership of land by non-Indians and no enforcement of where or how people could build a home, a barn or a business. Such a town, as were most of the early towns of Indian Territory, would be a disorganized cluster of buildings along the railroad tracks or unpaved wagon trails. People moving into these towns simply built wherever they wanted to build without regard to streets or alleys or regular size of lots.

Early Muskogee only had three main streets — one was the Texas Road which today is Cherokee Street and is arguably the oldest thoroughfare in this entire region. The main east-west road came from the ferry to Fort Gibson and moved westward toward Okmulgee, being known as the Okmulgee Road and now called Okmulgee Avenue. A third road headed northwest from town toward the Tullahassee and Koweta Missions across the Arkansas River.

When the Townsite Commission laid out the first streets in Muskogee, they had them parallel the Katy Railroad which did not run in a true north-south direction. Thus the oldest areas of Muskogee — its downtown and historic neighborhoods — have streets that actually run northwest to southeast. Later streets were laid out to run in a true north-south and east-west grid.

When it was determined where those early streets would run, some individuals found that their homes or businesses would have to be moved or they would be sitting right in the middle of the street. A man by the name of Sam Gaines found his house sitting in the middle of Third and Broadway. He volunteered to move his house for the good of the city, and townsfolk took up a collection to help him with the moving costs. Other homes and businesses had to be moved back to allow enough right-of-way for the new streets.

For a number of months in 1899, South Second Street could not be paved because a second-hand store, apparently vacant and abandoned, sat in the middle of the street. Finally someone took it upon themselves to jack up the ramshackle building, put it on rollers and move it aside so the street crew could finish paving the road to Okmulgee Avenue.

The Townsite Commission also had to create a more orderly system for naming the streets. Broadway was originally called Agency Street on the west and Brooklyn Street east of the railroad tracks. Third Street was known as Arkansas Street at one time, and Second Street was called Lake Street. Callahan Street was also called Charleston Street on some abstracts. Even with all the work of the Townsite Commission, Muskogee’s streets, at least in the original townsite area, still reflect the unorganized way in which the town grew before incorporation.

Reach Jonita Mullins at jonita@netscape.com.