Early El Reno, photograph, 1901; (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc2435360/m1/1/?q=EL%20RENO%20: accessed December 10, 2025), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting El Reno Carnegie Library.
History of El Reno
Attributing research and compilation too: Carolyn Marquardt Barker (1939 – 2018)
El Reno had a controversial beginning. This town began in 1889 and was not legally straightened out until 1892.
John Foreman located cattle trails for railroads and assisted in running a line from Kansas to El Reno in the 1880s. in the 1889 land run he homesteaded NW1/4 9 – 12 – 7. Foreman filed a soldier’s declaratory statement on it. He also signed a homestead affidavit stating that the entry was “for the purpose of actual settlement for his own benefit and not for other people.”
On May 13, two days after filing his homestead, Foreman took a four-day trip. Upon his return he found a group of men surveying and laying out a town. They advised him to lease a portion of his homestead to the townsite company. On May 19, he leased 120 acres to the Oklahoma Homestead and Town Company, whole 40 acres were kept for his own to cultivate.
This company was chartered February 26, 1889 as a private corporation. Some of the objects of the company were to purchase land, lay out townsites, buy and sell lots, rent buildings, etc.
After securing the lease the company platted the town. A charter was adopted on the townsite on May 22nd. It read: “It was unanimously resolved, that, whereas, there are no means whereby the inhabitants of El Reno can legally enter lands under the laws of the United States, and whereas, in all lands attempted to be occupied as government townsites, there is great strife and uncertainty in regard to titles and the possession of lots, it is expedient that the people of the town of El Reno, adopt the system proposed by the Oklahoma Homestead and Town Company, and take leases for the lots with an agreement for the deeds as soon as the settlers get final receipt or the government provides a law under which the occupants can secure title.”
Apparently, Foreman and the townsite company were in harmony, as he made more than one trip to Washington to secure appropriate townsite legislation and to enter his homestead for townsite purposes.
The Territorial Act of May 2, 1890 made provisions for the incorporations of towns. So, on June 11th a petition was submitted to the county commissioners. They ordered the 120-acre tract of Foreman and the adjoining 80 acres of Thomas Jensen be incorporated as the “Village of El Reno.” A. A. Farnham, E. E. Elterman, A. F. Masterman, M. M. Kerfoot and H. T. Graham were appointed as trustees of the village.
Anson A. Davis, a homesteader near Frisco, charged Foreman was a “sooner” and worked for the townsite company. The Commissioner of the General Land Office ruled in favor of Foreman. Davis then appealed the decision to the Secretary of the Interior. The matter was also taken to the U. S. Congress.
The town lot holders urged congress to pass a bill for the relief of the inhabitants of El Reno, so they could get clear title to their lots. On February 6, 1892 John W. Noble, Secretary of the Interior handed down this decision. He directed that the homestead and cash entries made by Foreman, be cancelled and the land be entered under the townsite law.
LOT JUMPING
About noon the same day an El Reno citizen received a private message about Mr. Noble’s decision. The Foreman land was opened for public settlement. About 9:00 p.m. lot jumpers moved on the land and in about an hour almost every lot was occupied.
It was reported the sound of hammers were heard all night long. The next morning shingles, pieces of foundations, dugouts and skeleton frames had been put on these lots.
On February 15, 1892 several El Reno citizens presented a petition to the U. S. Congress, asking that the land be entered under the townsite law.
Adjoining homestead entries of Thomas Jensen and James Thompson were cancelled on November 26, 1892. John Foreman relinquished to the U. S. Government all his right, title and interest in the tract of land he had claimed as a homestead on August 1, 1893. Thus, the first clear title was secured by the city of El Reno in 1893.
HOW EL RENO GOT ITS NAME
The promoters of the town, which included several officers from Fort Reno, wanted to name their town after the fort. So, they decided on the name Reno. But the post office department refused to establish a post office with that name. It claimed there would be too much confusion with Fort Reno, Reno City and Reno all within a few miles of each other.
The town promoters and the Fort Reno officers met several times to choose a new name. In July 1889 William C. McDonald, R. R. Hickox and Dr. A. H. Jackson were in a wagon on their way to Fort Reno to again discuss a new town name. when they reached Target Creek, near Fort Reno, the driver, Mr. McDonald, suddenly exclaimed he had a name! “El Reno!” He explained that “el” in Spanish meant “the.” He felt sure the post office department would accept that name. Which it did.
At first it was spelled as one word. Elreno. However, when Reno City faded from existence, the name became the two words “El Reno” as we know it today.
EL RENO IN THREE LAND OPENINGS
El Reno’s early history was unique in another way. It had a part in three different land openings.
The east part of the town was established in the 1889 land run. Grand street was on the edge of the 98th Meridian, which was the west boundary of this land run.
Many people came to El Reno to make the run into the Cheyenne and Arapahoe lands in April 1892. This opened the land which became the western part of El Reno.
The 1901 land drawing was held in El Reno. That summer the town was host to thousands of hopeful people wanting land.
