Miss Cordelia
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Acting on knowledge that Pres. Benjamin Harrison was going to open the Unassigned Lands in the Oklahoma Territory for settlement. Miss Cordelia and a group of educators saw a need that the people who were going to settle the unassigned lands and create the towns that were going to sprout of of the prairie were going to need teachers. 17 months prior to the proclamation they headed westward towards the Oklahoma Territory and Unassigned Lands from Philadelphia.
On March 23, 1889, Pres. Harrison did open the land for settlement. Unfortunately, they arrived prior to the proclamation and were withheld from entering the Oklahoma Territory. They spent a few weeks camped on the Cimarron River., but it wasn't for long and by the spring of 1889 the largest accumulations of would-be settlers massed in those camps at the Kansas border towns and rail-heads.
Given permission to begin their journey, on April 18, they moved to the rail station in Edmond, OK that had been created when the line was built in 1886–87, as it offered the high potential for a town-site.
The group got a town lot, established a school and worked tiredly and completed the Edmond School house in August 1889, just months after the land run.
On March 23, 1889, Pres. Harrison did open the land for settlement. Unfortunately, they arrived prior to the proclamation and were withheld from entering the Oklahoma Territory. They spent a few weeks camped on the Cimarron River., but it wasn't for long and by the spring of 1889 the largest accumulations of would-be settlers massed in those camps at the Kansas border towns and rail-heads.
Given permission to begin their journey, on April 18, they moved to the rail station in Edmond, OK that had been created when the line was built in 1886–87, as it offered the high potential for a town-site.
The group got a town lot, established a school and worked tiredly and completed the Edmond School house in August 1889, just months after the land run.