History of the Property & House

This land had a history long before it was called “Indian Territory.” Several sovereign nations recognized it as their homeland. The indigenous people on whose land we stand, In the case of Stillwater, the Kiikaapoi (Kickapoo), Wazhazhe Manzhan (Osage), and Wichita are cited. (source: https://stillwaterliving.com/whose-land-was-this/)

The Indian Removal Act of 1830 when the Five Civilized Tribes—Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole—were forced from their traditional homelands and relocated to Indian Territory. In the center of this territory was a section called the “Unassigned Lands.” It was in the northeast corner of these unassigned lands that present-day Stillwater was eventually founded.

In 1887, the Dawes Severalty Act stripped remaining lands from Native people through a process most simply known as allotment. After individual allotments were assigned, remaining land was opened to settlement. At noon on April 22, 1889, cannons fired to signal a literal race for these lands by non-Native homesteaders. Overnight, cities were born in Indian Territory—one of those being Stillwater. This is the basis for claims that Oklahoma began in Stillwater.  (see: https://stillwaterliving.com/did-oklahoma-really-begin-in-stillwater/)

The Oklahoma Land Runs were a series of seven events that took place between 1889 and 1906. During this time, the United States government opened millions of acres of land in Indian Territory to white settlers. The Land Runs were a chaotic and often dangerous time, but they also offered a chance for people to start over and build a better life for themselves.

Alfred Jarrell staked his claim to the quarter section that this house would eventually sit on in the first Oklahoma Land Run, April 22 1889 and was deeded the 160 acres in Payne County, OK on 3 Nov 1891.

According to the homesteading laws of that time, A homesteader could 'prove up' by making certain improvements to their claim and by living on that claim for 5 years, or by living on the property for 1 year, and paying a fee of $1.25 per acre. Union veterans of the civil war had a special privilege, after 1 year of living on a claim, and making the required improvements, they could reduce the remaining required time by 1 year for every year of their service to the Union army during the Civil War. Hence, Alfred Jarrell, having made the required improvements, and with his several years of service, 'proved up' in 1 year. On November 3rd. 1891 he was issued his 'final certificate' #89 making him one of the first 100 people to officially turn their claim into a deed and now own their land in Oklahoma.

The People who have owned the property since the land run:

Born Aug 9, 1835 .. Danville, Va.

Died Jan 1 1917 .. Kansas

Born August 9th, 1935 in Danville Va. His mother died 2 years later giving birth to his brother John.

Alfred's family operated a plantation and factory making plug tobacco. The Jarrell family disapproved of slavery, and freed their slaves 2 years before the civil war, and then hired their former slaves to work for the plantation and factory.

  At age 12, Alfred's father died from a sudden hear attack. As a young adult, he moved to Indiana to work for a man who taught him the millwright business. He later joined his brother, Sanford, on a farm in Atchison, KS.

When the Civil War broke out. Alfred and Sanford enlisted. Alfred served in Company A, 6th Regiment, Kansas Cavalry from 1 Aug 1861 to 15 Nov 1864. He enlisted again on 11 Mar 1865 as a private on the Hancock Corps stationed in Washington, DC, and was on guard duty the night President Lincoln was shot (though not guarding the President!). It is said that he served as one of the guards over Lincolns body.

Alfred Jarrell staked his claim to the quarter section that this house would eventually sit on in the first Oklahoma Land Run, April 22 1889 and was deeded the 160 acres in Payne County, OK on 3 Nov 1891.

According to the homesteading laws of that time, A homesteader could 'prove up' by making certain improvements to their claim and by living on that claim for 5 years, or by living on the property for 1 year, and paying a fee of $1.25 per acre. Union veterans of the civil war had a special privilege. After 1 year of living on a claim, and making the required improvements, they could reduce the remaining required time by 1 year for every year of their service to the Union army during the Civil War. Hence Alfred Jarrell, having made the required improvements and with his several years of service, 'proved up' in 1 year. On November 3rd. 1891 he was issued his 'final certificate' #89 making him one of the first 100 people to officially turn their claim into a deed and now own their land in Oklahoma.

On 25 Nov 1891, he deeded 40 acres of his land to the Oklahoma Agricultural College at Stillwater. "Theta Pond" sits on part of that land. His son, Edwin, was in the first class of 6 to attend Oklahoma A&M in 1892. Classes were held in local churches durring those first years of Oklahoma A&M. The first academic building, later known as Old Central, was constructed and dedicated on June 15, 1894, on the southeast corner of campus.

Edwin Jarrell, age 20, was in the first graduating class of Oklahoma A&M in 1896.

Alfred Jarrell's daughter, Mary Winnetta Jarrell also attended Oklahoma A&M, and was the first woman/co-ed in 1903 to earn a diploma at Oklahoma A&M,  as well as find a husband at the new college. Her future husband, Thomas Jefferson Hartman (class of 1898) were both early graduates.

Thanks to the foresight and generosity of Alfred Jarrell, and other men like him, Oklahoma had higher education nearly two decades before it became a state. Think of the hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of students that have gone to Oklahoma A&M (and Oklahoma State University as it has been renamed).

The first students graduated from OAMC in 1896. The graduation class included six men, and the graduation ceremonies were held in the College Building, which is now Old Central. Pictured here, standing left to right, are James H. Adams, Arthur W. Adams, Ervin G. Lewis and Oscar M. Morris. Seated left to right are Alfred E. Jarrell and Frank E. Duck.

The first class at Oklahoma A & M College consisted of six men and two women. The women, however, had to drop out of school just before graduation. Emma Smith dropped out to tend to an illness in her family and Kate Neal had dropped out on account of an illness herself. This left the first graduating class to hold Arthur W. Adams, James H. Adams, Frank E. Duck, Alfred E. Jarrell, Ervin G. Lewis and Oscar M. Morris.

A critical player in the development of the Edmon Low Library was the father of Alfred E. Jarrell, a member of OAMC’s first graduating class. Jarrell’s father donated most of the land to the college where the library stands. Jarrell spoke of the days when the library was found in Old Central, saying “where possible, we would sign for the book, take it home, put our feet in the oven of the old wood burning cook stove, and make our notes in comfort!” Pictured is Alfred E. Jarrell at the groundbreaking of what would be the Edmon Low Library.

Born March 3, 1878    New York state

Frances Langdon Brown  attended the rural schools in Osborne County, Kansas, and the city schools in Emporia, Kansas. She attended the Kansas State Normal School at Emporia, from 1894 to 1898.

From 1898 to 1908, she taught in the public schools of Kansas. At that time she enrolled at the Kansas State Agricultural College and obtained a B. S. degree in home economics in 1909.

The Department of Home Economics was established in 1910 with Frances Brown as the Director. In 1915, the staff of the Department of Home Economics Extension was increased to six persons with Frances Brown as the Director

On November 1, 1917, the Department of Emergency Home Demonstration Agents was organized and charged with the responsibility of emergency programs in Extension home economics for the period of the war. Frances Brown was transferred from the position of Director of Home Economics Extension to 'State Leader' of Extension Emergency Home Demonstration Agents.  (Nov 1, 1917 to Jun 30, 1919)

Frances L. Brown became an oklahoma state home demonstrator February 16, 1921 and resigned 1926, the same year radio programing began.

Born        July 19 1884        Garrison Kansas

Died   August 27 1965          Stillwater, Ok.   Fairlawn cemetary, Blk-1A2, Lot 3

Carl P. Thompson got his BS. at Kansas State University, then his masters at OU and his PhD from Iowa State University.

Carl Thompson  joined the Oklahoma A&M animal husbandry department in 1918 and was at Oklahoma A&M for 31 years. He was often referd to by his nick name 'Hog' Thompson.  Possibly a reference to his work with swine. More likely to differenciate him from R.B. Thompson,who was also in the School of Agriculture, his nickname being "Chicken" Thompson.

In 1949, OSU president Henrey Benett relieved Carl Thompson of his teaching duties, and named Carl Thompson "Ambassador of goodwill" for Oklahoma A&M. In that job, he spoke to audiences across the country, speaking to as many as 263 groups a year. Schools throughout the state purchased radios so that their students could listen to the Farmers’ Hour, and as one of the show’s announcers, Carl P. “Hog” Thompson of the animal husbandry department, became a state celebrity.

As was common for the time, Carl Thompson would house students at his home. One of those students, Oliver S. Willham stayed with the Thompsons his first year at Oklahoma A&M, and would later become the President of OSU (1952~1966)

Carl Thompson retired from OSU in 1958, after 40 years with the college

His son, Larry Thompson grew up in Stillwater, attended Stillwater H.S., and Oklahoma A&M and went on to a noteable career in writing

Nationally, Triangle Fraternity has over 38 chapters across the United States, with over 1,200 collegiate members and over 26,000 lifetime members. It is a social fraternity for men majoring in engineering, architecture, and the physical, mathematical, biological, and computer sciences. It is the only member of the North American Interfraternity Conference to limit its membership recruitment to these majors. Triangle Fraternity was founded on April 15, 1907, at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.

Triangle officially became a Fraternity at OSU in fall of 1964, and occupied the 'Francis Brown' house (known as 'The Main house'), the 'Carl Thompson' house (known as 'The Annex'), and 2 more buildings behind them (those building were torn down in 1996). At events like homecoming, Triangle frequently took home the awards for engineering for thier homecoming house decorations. The Fraternity lasted for 32 before it disbanded and sold its property in 1996 to a former member. Many of the records from Triangle (such as minutes from the local chapters meetings, scrap books, house members pictures etc..) are now kept at the OSU library in the "Special Collections and University Archives" and can be viewed by appointment.

Eric Taron grew up in Connecticut and moved to Oklahoma 1980. He went to OSU from 1982~86. Majoring in Engineering, he joined Triangle Fraternity his freshman year, and lived in what is now called 'The Francis Brown house' while at OSU. Ten years later, as Triangle Fraternity was exiting OSU, he bought the property from his former Fraternity. Both the 'Carl Thompson' and 'Francis Brown' houses were gutted to the studs, and restored, bringing both houses up to current building standards and code while trying to maintain much of their original character and feel. The 2 buildings behind the 'Carl Thompson' and 'Francis Brown' houses were too far gone to be able restore and were demolished in 1996. A new house was built in 2000 in thier place.