The Chisholm (76)
- 5 days ago
- 3 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
KINGFISHER
When I was growing up in Drummond, every town seemed like it was pretty far away. My dad worked in the oil and gas industry and his job was to travel around to pump jacks and storage facilities to check on them and change the flow charts. He always talked about Kingfisher which was part of his route. One day when I was about 10, I went to work with him. He told me we were going south and we would start in Kingfisher and work our way back. I thought, "We're going to be on the road for hours and hours to get to this place." Well, 45 minutes later we passed through Kingfisher. That one trip shrank my world a little bit. Not everything was far away. That experience has helped me navigate these trips to all the Oklahoma museums because most of them really aren't that far away.
This time I was coming up from OKC to Kingfisher and, what do you know, it was 45 minutes away from me again. History repeats! Head out on Northwest Exressway and you drive right into Kingfisher. The historical museum The Chisholm is tucked away in a residential area. I was hoping my GPS wasn't leading me astray, but it wasn't. I spotted the unmistakable house Horizon Hill, Oklahoma Governor Seay's mansion. Right across the parking lot is the museum. I was met outside by executive director, Kimberly Prack. She was in the middle of a bit of an emergency. The Seay mansion was having an unauthorized gathering and there were men there to remove the intruders. It was BEES! Kimberly was making sure the men knew where the angry bees had been quietly setting up a hive in the back of the house. Once she got them squared away she informed me that a tour of the house was out of the question today. No worries. I like the friendly bumblebees that bob around my pollinator garden, but angry bees make me nervous. I asked if taking outside photos of the house seemed okay. She thought as long as I stayed far back it would be fine. So I hit the museum first.
As with every museum I've been to, I'm excited to see what interesting things await me inside. I glanced to the right as I walked in and spotted a giant plastic longhorn cow. I kind of laughed and knew I would be getting a selfie with the beast later. The museum is mostly focused on the history of the area's association with the Chisholm Trail. Like every history museum, they have information and special exhibits that help me form a better overall history of our great state. The Oklahoma History I learned in school was fairly thorough, but like most textbooks, it can't cover all of it. Museums like The Chisholm help fill in the blanks that books either briefly touch on or don't include because of limited space. I don't fault the textbooks or the teachers. Trying to cram in that much history is probably a daunting task. Luckily, classes can take field trips to this and other similar museums. The Chisholm is a great place to take a few minutes out of your day and imagine what life on the dusty cattle trail would have been like. There is a great display on the history of the retail store TG&Y and also the Heritage Village where you can see buildings from the early days of Kingfisher and the surrounding areas.
Before I left, I started to get some exterior photos of Horizon Hill. Kimberly came out of the museum and told me that the men had extracted a great number of the bees so she would let me into the house to look around a little bit. She told me they were still working upstairs so I couldn't go up there. I wasn't going to argue! So I quickly snapped a few interior photos of the downstairs and headed back out to the bee free parking lot. It was a great trip to a new-to-me museum.
605 Zellers Ave, Kingfisher
405-375-5176
Entry Fee: Adults-$5, Seniors (60+)-$4, Students (6-17)-$3, Free to OHS members, veterans, and kids 5 and under
Hours: Monday - Saturday 10:00 - 5:00
