This session was presented by June Lester Chubbuck, board member and treasurer, The Edwards Store, Inc., and Chantry Sipress-Banks, executive director, Preservation Oklahoma, Inc. It was part of “Perspectives in History”: The Oklahoma History Symposium. The Edwards Store, Inc. strategy aims to save, restore, and share the Edwards-Hardaway Homestead and Cemetery historic site (#72001069 / #100007234). The 1850 dog-trot log cabin, home of Englishman Thomas Edwards and his Choctaw wife Nancy Hardaway, is the only remaining original structure along the Butterfield Overland Mail Route (1858–1861) through Indian Territory. It served as a meal stop for the first transcontinental stagecoach passengers and, in 1868, became the first Red Oak Post Office.

This presentation shares the organization’s historic preservation journey, including finding historic site owners; creating a non-profit 501(c)(3); connecting with local historic preservation, tourism, and economic development organizations; conducting research; expanding the cabin’s historical significance; and identifying experts to assess the endangered structure.

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