What caused the town of Edmond to form? (answers at bottom)
The West Edmond Oil Boom
Santa Fe Railroad
1889 Land Run Settlement
2. What was the first structure built on the prairie of “future Edmond” in 1887?
Water and Coal Station
Sod House
Territorial Schoolhouse
3. Where did the name Edmond come from?
John Edmond, the first man living in the area
Edmond Ironside, the ancestor of the first man living in the area
Edmond Burdick, the Santa Fe Railroad freight agent
4. The Santa Fe Railroad initially dubbed Edmond with this name…
Red Hills
Summit
Prairieville
Answers:
1. Town Formation: Although the 1889 Land Run certainly populated the town of Edmond, it first started as a Santa Fe train stop on the prairie eight years earlier.
2. First Structure: A water tower and coal barn were the first structures built so that trains could stop to refuel. Edmond was later the location of the first schoolhouse and first church in Oklahoma Territory.
3. Edmond Name: The town is named after Santa Fe Railroad agent, Edmond Burdick, although he only made occasional stops. It might have been more fitting had Edmond been named “Steenville” after the John Steen family who first lived and worked at the train station.
4. First Name: Railroad workers who laid the railroad tracks initially called the area “Summit,” because it was the highest point between Cimarron River (north of Guthrie) and North Canadian River (now Oklahoma River).
Thank you for taking this quiz—Edmond has an interesting history!
