The Osage County Historical Society Museum Pawhuska

10/10/2026

10/09/2026

Join us for our 2nd annual event, "A Night at the Museum." Last year, we had a great crowd of history lovers join us, and we had a wonderful time interacting with our LIVE exhibits. Mark you calendars for this exciting event!

10/09/2026

10/06/2026

In 1808, William Clark led the effort to build a fort on a bluff above the Missouri River.

Fort Osage stood near today's Sibley. It was a government trading post, a "factory," meant to bind the Osage to American trade.

The price came in a treaty that same year.

The Osage gave up all their land east of a line drawn due south from Fort Osage to the Arkansas River. In return: trade access and a promise of protection.

One line. Drawn on paper. It cut the homeland of one of the most powerful nations on the Missouri River.

The trading post closed in 1827. The fort vanished. What stands there today was rebuilt starting in the late 1940s.

The land never came back.

The fort is easy to picture as a frontier landmark. The treaty requires looking beyond its walls. Those consequences occupied far more space than the buildings on the bluff. The treaty line turned a geographic direction into a boundary with enormous stakes. Due south sounds simple when it appears in a sentence. On the ground, a line from the fort toward the Arkansas River crossed a homeland.

Describing the deal only as trade leaves that loss out of the picture. The Kansas Historical Society describes the treaty terms as unfair to Osage interests. That judgment belongs beside the promise of protection. A promise and its price should be read together. The factory closed in 1827. The trading operation lasted only part of the long history created by the agreement. Its closure did not undo the land cession.

A building's useful life can be short while the effects of an agreement endure. Reconstruction began in 1947, with the first blockhouse following in 1948. The landmark visitors see today therefore represents a rebuilding of the fort. It is not the untouched original standing where time forgot it. The stockade helps people imagine the trading post. The treaty asks them to imagine what lay beyond it.

The treaty's consequences reached far beyond the stockade.
Had you heard of the 1808 treaty line before?

Illustrated with the use of AI

10/05/2026

317/325 N. Eastern Ave., Hominy

I’m seeking details about the structure in the first photo. County records reflect it was built in 1925, before Eastern Avenue was enumerated as Highway 99. Its distinctive green roof, gables and stone work always have made an impression on me as I drive by, so I was surprised that it was not found in a search of Oklahoma Historical Society archives or listed on the National Register.

The structure actually is two separate buildings now linked by a breezeway. A third small cottage-style building is behind. About 80 yards south is another building (301 N. Eastern) of similar gabled construction. The county assessor’s dimensional schematic is attached with the photos. It shows the ground floors and the upper levels 

Further south on the highway is the Teepee Bar (1027 S. Eastern) and a residence (1013 S. Eastern) resembling the other buildings.

Anyone familiar with the original purpose of the 317/325 structure? Speculation is an early service station/garage with a cafe on the lower level, with lodging rooms above and behind. I did contact the Hominy Heritage Association; Randy Powell, the current co-owner with Maria Whitehorn of the property; Bill Starks; City Hall; the library, and others. Randy mentioned a couple former business names: Green Gables and Spanish Inn.

Lastly, when I searched the first photo in Google Lens, it erroneously identified the property as the famous Shamrock Court motor inn on Route 66 in Missouri, built two decades after the Hominy property.

Any guidance would be appreciated.