The Legacy Years

The Legacy Years. The First Half Century. Oklahoma became the 46th state on Saturday, November 16, 1907 when President Theodore Roosevelt signed a proclamation officially joining the “Twin Territories” – Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory – into a brand new state. As of that time, the City of Norman, having been established since April 22, 1889 as part of the Great Land Run, was a pretty eighteen-year-old prairie settlement of 3,040 people. , With the Organic Act of 1890, the U.S. Congress established a territorial government for Oklahoma Territory and Norman was selected to be the county seat for the newly established Cleveland County. On December 19, 1890, the Oklahoma Territory Legislature chose Norman as the site for the University of Oklahoma. By the time of statehood, Norman was a bustling railroad community whose destiny was wonderfully intertwined with providing and enhancing both the education and enrichment of the lives of thousands of young people who would begin coming to this city from around the state, our country, and the world preparing for their future. , In the years following statehood, the City of Norman and the university grew at a gradual but steady pace. By 1930, the city had a population of 9,603 and the university had an enrollment of 5,417. Then two disasters struck this part of the country. With the collapse of the stock market in 1929, the nation fell into a devastating depression that continued up into the late thirties, and in the early thirties, the southwest plains were shrouded in drought and dust. Oklahoma and the City of Norman suffered because of both of these conditions. , By the time both the depression and dust began to ease up in the late thirties, Europe was embroiled in war and following the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the United States joined the Allies to fight World War II. As part of the war effort four U.S. Naval installations were built in and near Norman. The two major bases, referred to locally as the North Base and South Base, would bring nearly two hundred thousand service people to Norman during the course of training for World War II and for the Korean Conflict in the early 1950s. , In 1946, following the end of World War II, the North Base was turned over to the university; in 1959, the South Base was divided between the university, the City of Norman, and the private sector, with the largest part given to the university. , During the war years, a remarkable man became president of the university. In 1944, Dr. George L. Cross became the 7th president of the university and served in that position for 25 years – retiring in 1968. During his tenure, many advances and additions were made to the university but two situations particularly speak to his legacy. The first occurred right after the war, when Ada Lois Sipuel Fisher, an African-American, applied for admission to the College of Law and was denied because Oklahoma laws prohibited mixing of the races in state school systems. President Cross put in writing that he was refusing to admit a qualified applicant because of her race. As honest as it was calculated, his statement put Oklahoma's segregation laws before the U.S. Supreme Court. The court overruled the state, and in so doing, their ruling began the long overdue integration of the university. The second situation was hiring Bud Wilkinson as the university's football coach in 1947. In his 17 seasons as head coach (1947-1963) he won three national championships (1950, 1955, 1956). He also won 12 straight conference championships and from 1953 to 1957 his teams won 47 straight victories. , In 1957, the State of Oklahoma was fifty years old and by this time it was quite clear that the City of Norman, with a population of 33,412 in 1960, was truly the “University City” of Oklahoma. , – Essay by Robert Goins