Crossroads of the Continent

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By Brian Rukes, El Reno Historian, November 2023

While it is true that MANY cities and towns tout themselves as the “Crossroads of America,” El Reno is perhaps the only town that can be called the CROSSROADS OF THE CONTINENT!

And it’s not just hyperbole. I have maps and facts that backs that up.

This all related to Route 66 and its upcoming Centennial in 2026. The importance and allure of Route 66 is well known. Of course, Route 66 helps make El Reno special.

But there’s also Highway 81, which is more than just a federal U.S. highway. Before Route 66 even existed, what is now known as Highway 81 was a part of the MERIDIAN HIGHWAY INTERNATIONAL.

Also known as Meridian Road, “Meridian Highway,” or simply the “MH,” this road stretched from Winnipeg, Canada all the way to Mexico City, connecting all three countries in the North American CONTINENT. It was a “high gear” road in days when most roads were unpaved, not well maintained, and very hard to traverse.

The Meridian Highway International ran straight through El Reno, Oklahoma. In El Reno, it crossed the Postal Highway, which ran east-west across the state and through Oklahoma City.

Highway 81–which roughly paralleled the Chisholm Trail, another significant transportation route associated with El Reno–is a much bigger deal than you might realize, and it’s still a very important route.

What’s more, the Meridian Highway was to be a cornerstone for the proposed PAN-AMERICAN HIGHWAY which was conceived to connect Canada with SOUTH AMERICA, which would have provided a direct route THROUGH EL RENO to places like Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, and even Cape Horn. This dream, though, never came to full fruition like the Meridian Highway International actually did. (See map below.)

El Reno: Route 66. The Meridian Highway International / Highway 81. The Chisholm Trail. The Postal Highway. Interstate 40. Major Hub for Rock Island Lines railroad. The Interurban Railway, plus other railroad companies. Home to TWO airports and World War 2 training bases. Fort Reno (with its horses and mules), Concho, and Darlington. Home of famed WW2 aviator “Sonny” Kegelman and other aviation pioneers. Oh yeah, and travelers and residents alike know us for tornadoes, fried onion burgers and coneys, Burger Day, Small Town Weekend, Smoke on the Water, Lake El Reno, Crimson Creek Golf Course, two major war memorials, the Canadian County Historical Museum and its Heritage Express Trolley, and so much more, including what’s best: our people and small town hospitality!

El Reno, the CROSSROADS OF THE CONTINENT!
There is no other place like it.

December 2024
I have something NEW to add to my message from just over a year ago! Before last Thanksgiving, I sent out the story (forwarded below), including the map from 1927 of the Meridian Highway International and the proposed Pan-American Highway. As we approach the Centennial of Route 66 in 2026, I ardently believe that El Reno also needs to take advantage of the fact that we sit at the historical CROSSROADS OF THE CONTINENT, as the Meridian Road / Meridian Highway was quite important even before Route 66 came into existence.

I recently found another map in the Library of Congress archives, this one, from 1915, which impressed me even further, as this shows the earlier route of the Meridian Road. Note that it passes through El Reno, then west-north-westward to Fort Reno, then west to Calumet and Geary, then heads south from there:

Interestingly enough, that route (from El Reno to Geary) is actually the ORIGINAL route through this area for our famous Route 66 when it came into existence in 1926. (That original route DID NOT go through or by the current Cherokee truck stop at I-40 Exit 108.) The full map is attached below showing the entire length of the Meridian Road map from 1915.

Like El Reno, which is hugely important in my life for so many reasons, I also have big-time personal connections to all three of those other places–Fort Reno, Calumet, and Geary! Also, interestingly enough, the Meridian Road passes through Enid, Hennessey, Okarche, and even Wichita Falls and Glen Rose, Texas.

Legend of John Wilkes Booth

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By Brian Rukes, El Reno Historian, April 2025

This post, is perhaps the most astounding, most fantastic, and arguably the most unbelievable of all the stories which are connected to this great city we call El Reno–even though there is a high probability that this may just be a fabricated story. What is it, you ask?

Well, hang on tight… and are you SURE you’re ready for this?

El Reno has a VERY interesting tie to what has become known as the “Booth Legend” or the “Legend of John Wilkes Booth,” who was of course the assassin of the iconic U.S. President Abraham Lincoln.

There are quite a number of people–including current living relatives of John Wilkes Booth, along with some historians and experts in other fields–who actually believe the Booth Legend, including that the infamous assassin lived in El Reno, Oklahoma Territory, for several months under an assumed name and shortly thereafter successfully committed suicide in Enid, Oklahoma Territory, on January 13, 1903 (yes, 1903, nearly 38 years after the end of Civil War and Lincoln’s death–and, interestingly enough, some eleven months before the Wright Brothers made their first historic flight).

Wait, what? HOW???

President Lincoln was shot on Good Friday, April 14, 1865, in Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C., dying the next day. History then records that Booth was killed less than two weeks later. On April 26, 1865, just twelve days after Lincoln’s assassination, Union troops caught up to John Wilkes Booth and surrounded him in a tobacco barn at the Garrett farm in Virginia. Booth refused to give himself up, so the barn was set afire, and Union soldier Thomas “Boston” Corbett shot Booth (without orders) through a gap in the side of the barn. Fatally injured but not yet dead, Booth was moved by the troops from the burning barn to the steps of the nearby farmhouse, where he died within a matter of hours.

But the Booth Legend says that John Wilkes Booth somehow fled from the barn, escaped capture by Union troops, and ultimately moved from town to town over the ensuing decades while using a variety of aliases. The legend also says that under the assumed name of David E. George, he made his way to El Reno around 1899, lived here for a couple of years, then in mid-April 1902, when feeling convinced that he was about to die, he made a startling confession: that his real name wasn’t David E. George, but that he really was none other than John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of President Lincoln. Some people believe that David E. George had taken poison to commit suicide at that time, accounting for his feeling he was “about to die.”

After making this confession, though, he did NOT actually die then, instead moving to Enid in December 1902, where he then DID successfully commit suicide in his hotel room of the Grand Avenue Hotel on January 13, 1903. The story about his deathbed confession in El Reno quickly made its way to Enid, and efforts were made to carefully preserve / embalm the body for further identification purposes. The preserved body (mummy, if you will) was even put on public display in Enid, and the story of his supposed true identity spread like wildfire in the press.

Getting wind of the story, an attorney named Finis L. Bates who was now living at Memphis, Tennessee, instantly made a trip to Enid, walked in, and had an immediate, profound reaction when saw the body of the man people in El Reno knew as David E. George. For Finis Bates, though, this man’s name wasn’t David E. George: it was his friend John St. Helen whom he had known while working in the Granbury / Glen Rose, Texas area–about 225 miles directly south of El Reno, not far from Fort Worth.

Having a profound interest in the body of this man and the tales associated with him, Bates wrote a book about this whole tale, and was himself absolutely convinced that John St. Helen, or David E. George, was truly none other than John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of President Lincoln. As Bates recounts in his 1907 book The Escape and Suicide of John Wilkes Booth, or The First True Account of Lincoln’s Assassination, this man (known to him as John St. Helen) had earlier made YET ANOTHER deathbed confession to Bates himself there in Texas that he was none other than the infamous assassin John Wilkes Booth. He even provided Bates with a photograph of himself when he was younger to prove that he was the famous actor and infamous assassin, imploring Bates to reach out to his family after his death, as well.

There are FAR more people who believe this story than you might initially think. Do I believe it, you may ask? I’m really not completely convinced of its veracity, BUT it is a story that many have associated with El Reno and Enid for over 120 years now. Whether it is true or not doesn’t change the fact that El Reno is, without doubt, a part of the “Booth Legend.”

It’s a story (legend) that is intriguing or compelling enough that multiple books have been written about it, as well as hundreds of newspaper stories from across the country, along with dozens of magazine articles (including the likes of Life Magazine and The Saturday Evening Post), including some that themselves engaged in some very thorough investigations of the Booth Legend. Several websites deal with the topic in some fashion, and even the famous TV show “Unsolved Mysteries” with host Robert Stack did a major piece on it years ago. More recently, the History Channel featured it in an episode of History’s Greatest Mysteries (Season 1, Episode 4, aired December 5, 2020). Oklahoma City’s “big three” network news stations (KFOR Channel 4, KOCO Channel 5, and KWTV News 9–with stories here and here–have all aired stories about it. The Oklahoma Historical Society acknowledges the legend’s existence, and one of its early presidents even believed it. While not every one of these stories mentions El Reno, a person doesn’t have to dig very far to find out how critical a role our city unknowingly played in this tale.

Enid’s newspaper continues to run stories about this legend, the most recent (that I know of) in May 2024 stating that recent scientific (photographic) evidence and technology have supposedly basically proven that this outrageous story is true, that the David E. George from El Reno who died in Enid in early 1903 was almost certainly the real John Wilkes Booth who killed President Lincoln.

I must say, though, I’m STILL not 100% convinced, even after doing quite extensive research on this compelling story myself, hoping to either prove or disprove the claims of the Booth Legend. I, like basically everyone before, have heretofore fallen short in that attempt, however, despite my efforts thus far.

How could so many people believe such a far-flung, outrageous story, you ask? How could such a story have stuck around for over 120 years? The reasons are many, in fact, including the particularly bothersome fact that the U.S. government did not CLEARLY, DELIBERATELY provide unquestionable evidence that the man killed in Garrett’s barn was actually John Wilkes Booth. Questions arose almost immediately, for a variety of reasons, including conflicting reports, somewhat secretive or deceptive-seeming “burials” (yes, plural) of what was supposedly Booth’s body, several witnesses who claimed the dead man from Garrett’s barn did not resemble John Wilkes Booth (even supposedly having red hair instead of Booth’s jet black hair), and more. Even the best attempt by the government to try to settle the question in 1869 fell far short, and by that time enough people believed that Booth had indeed escaped that the cover-up conspiracy stories persisted.

In 1869, Booth’s relatives received his body after an examination of it, oddly enough in the same place Lincoln died (across the street from Ford’s Theatre where Lincoln was shot). Though the body was much deteriorated, Booth’s brother and friends acknowledged that it was indeed that of John Wilkes Booth. That should end the argument then, right? Well, not so fast! There were a couple of other problems that some present–and others who have examined the testimonies of those who were there–have had serious questions about. Furthermore, some argue, it could be conceivable that if the family actually believed or even knew that their relative John Wilkes Booth was really still alive (but, if true, had not yet been apprehended by authorities), their deceptively claiming that this was his body might prevent further searches to arrest, charge, convict, and probably execute him if he was indeed still alive. The family had the body buried in its final resting place, the Green Mount Cemetery in Baltimore, Maryland.

So why don’t they just exhume the body buried at Green Mount Cemetery now and perform DNA testing on it, comparing it to known living Booth relatives? Well, there are a number of interesting problems with that, and those problems just “add fuel to the fire” for those who believe the Booth Legend. I won’t go into all those now, but the reasons are, well, let’s just call them interesting and arguably frustrating. Nevertheless, there were people who witnessed Booth’s final burial who firmly attest that the body was his, John Wilkes Booth’s, buried there in the Green Mount Cemetery. Interestingly, though, he simply lies in a plot marked “BOOTH” where multiple relatives are buried, with his given individual name not inscribed on any marker at the cemetery.

And what, you ask, of the mummy of the man known as David E. George who lived in El Reno and committed suicide at Enid? Well, the mummy was on display in Enid for some time (and you can easily find the creepy photographs of it in its more deteriorated state online with a simple search). The mummy eventually went on to be a traveling spectacle in freak shows and the like–almost always promoted as the real body of John Wilkes Booth, a profitable venture, indeed–then over time it was eventually lost. The story of the mummy of David E. George (whom Finis Bates believed was his old friend John St. Helen, and whom Finis Bates also believed was indeed John Wilkes Booth) is quite the tale in itself. But the whereabouts of the mummy, so far as I can ascertain, has long been unknown. If the mummy could be found, modern DNA testing could almost certainly prove or disprove the Booth Legend.

A Persistent Question, at least for some:

Was David E. George (and/or John St. Helen) really John Wilkes Booth? Did John Wilkes Booth really die in Enid in early 1903 after having lived in El Reno a couple of years, after having decades before escaped capture after assassinating President Lincoln?

I’ll let you reach your own conclusions–I have already stated my position above. I do, nevertheless, completely understand WHY this legend still persists. Definitive DNA testing of the body buried at Green Mount Cemetery, in my humble opinion, compared with existing known relatives of John Wilkes Booth would almost undoubtedly solve it, but all efforts to that end have been denied, much to the chagrin of those who believe the legend is actually true. Honestly, though, even those who believe or want to believe the official account of Booth’s death back in 1865 should be interested to have the DNA testing done, as well, as it could also prove that position, as well.

The Things We “Know” about the man David E. George:

As much as we DON’T know for sure in relation to the Booth Legend, there ARE some things I absolutely DO know about the man David E. George who reportedly made the deathbed confession to be John Wilkes Booth, whether that claim is true or not:

The man David E. George did indeed live here in El Reno. He stayed for a time at the Anstine Hotel and even at the famous Kerfoot Hotel, both here in town, and also in a cottage he reportedly purchased at 107 South Macomb in El Reno. (According to online records, the current house at that address was built in 1930, so it’s NOT the same house that David E. George–who some believe was really John Wilkes Booth–lived in.)

Furthermore, David E. George was described by most who knew him as an eccentric, not your “ordinary Joe,” so to speak. It is often reported that he was well versed in Shakespeare, and most also claim that he had a noticeable flair for the dramatic. It is also known that he at least occasionally worked as a house painter and decorator, even consistently advertising as such in the local newspaper–I have several documented cases of his placing such ads. The quality of his work is contested, though, some praising it, others saying he was utterly incompetent in that realm. It is also generally believed that he never was short on money and he typically dressed quite well, but the source of his finances was a mystery to basically everyone. He moreover was often drunk and depressed, according to a number of testimonies.

Finally, of course, we know that David E. George then died in Enid on January 13, 1903. And we know that his body was preserved (“mummified” in a sense), was displayed publicly in Enid for some time, then toured the country, then was eventually lost.

While there are many people who believed his confession (or confessions) that he was really John Wilkes Booth, there are many more people who simply can’t believe such an outrageous claim.

But, boy oh boy, what a doozy of a story that is–and I haven’t even told you everything: the tales and the connections and the claims and the sundry accounts actually are pretty astounding, and even after MUCH research I still can’t make “heads or tails” out of many of them.

My Personal History related to this Legend:

I’ve known for a long time that my Dad has in his collection an original 1907 first edition of that shocking book by Finis L. Bates. It was acquired many decades ago here in El Reno by my paternal grandmother, and ever since then it has at least somewhat intrigued my family. Not only is this an original first edition of the book, its previous owner (who had passed away just before Grandma acquired it) apparently was much intrigued by the legend himself, the book being filled with pasted-in and several loose newspaper clippings from several different newspapers. ALL of the attached pictures are of that specific copy of the book and those articles that are still in our family collection. (I haven’t read all the articles yet, but I have read the entire book.) While I’ve known about this legend for a long time, most of my own personal research into the subject has only come in the past few years.

By the way, once upon a time, most people in El Reno knew this amazing story. Only a handful, so far as I have been able to tell, are still aware of it. Like so many things–including, of course, the meaning behind the name of our Memorial Stadium that we rediscovered back in January 2018–this story too has been largely forgotten. I wouldn’t be much of an El Reno Historian, though, if I didn’t share this story with you. It’s out there, it’s pretty astounding, people here ought to at least be aware that such a legend exists, and…

Final Thoughts (for now):

As incredible as this tale is, there is one more really cool fact that simply cannot be denied:

Our humble little town is right in the midst of this amazing tale, like it or not!

Jesse Chisholm’s Death, the Chisholm Trail, Highway 81, the Crossroads of the Continent, and the Rock Island Railroad in El Reno

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By Brian Rukes, El Reno Historian

March 4, 1868 marks the date Jesse Chisholm passed away, the man for whom the famous Chisholm Trail was named.

Chisholm was a trader, scout, and trailblazer who could speak multiple native languages. He died, reportedly due to food poisoning, on this day in 1868 just north of the border of Canadian County in Blaine County, northeast of the city of Geary, OK. He is buried at that location, with a marker nearby. Here’s a link: https://www.travelok.com/listings/view.profile/id.3935

The Chisholm Trail was one of the first major routes through this part of the country, and it is regarded almost universally as the most important cattle trail in U.S. history. Later, U.S. Highway 81 would run very close to the route of the Chisholm Trail, contributing to why Highway 81 is such a major road (and a significant part of the reason why the City of El Reno has trademarked “Crossroads of the Continent” for itself). The 98th Meridian that it runs along is also highly significant for several other reasons that I will share later, Lord willing.

Chisholm established much of the trail around 1864 as a wagon route, part of his trading activities in the territory. The route became the world’s most famous cattle trail following the 1867 establishment of Abilene, Kansas, as a stockyards with access to the railroads to help supply the much-wanted beef in the United States’ growing economy. This came, of course, on the heels of the Civil War, which had ended in 1865. Chisholm died in 1868, but he reportedly never drove cattle on the Chisholm Trail. Nevertheless, the trail was named in his honor and continued under heavy operation until around 1885, when an extension of the railroad (the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe) essentially supplanted the trail when the railway was completed from the north down to the town of Purcell, Oklahoma. (The scene from the 1946 movie The Harvey Girls in which Judy Garland performs the song “On the Athison, Topeka, and the Santa Fe” captures the excitement and the great mobility that the railroads provided at that time. Remember, we didn’t have Interstate Highways or even Route 66 back then! You can see the movie scene here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSgrOvMLWsY

El Reno would have the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway reach it in 1890, one year after the “Run of ’89” (the first land run) and El Reno’s establishment, further contributing to the significance of El Reno as the “Crossroads of the Continent.” El Reno would become a MAJOR railroad town, serving as the headquarters / hub of the Southern Division of the CRI&P / Rock Island Railroad. El Reno was even prominently featured in the 1954 Glenn Ford movie “Human Desire” (which originally had the working title “End of the Line”) because it was such an important railroad town.

That building that was recently razed (demolished) by the railroad tracks near the Canadian County Historical Museum wasn’t JUST an old, abandoned dilapidated apartment building. It originally was the main offices for the Rock Island Railroad here in town. Sadly, the dilapidated condition of that privately owned building led to its ultimate demolition. MANY people came to El Reno to live, work, and even visit through the decades because of the railroad, with so many people working for “The Rock” (as it was also called).

Also attached is a VERY detailed map of the Chisholm Trail through Oklahoma (including El Reno), as found at: https://www.okhistory.org/images/enc/HISMAP.0003.jpg

You can also read more about the history of the Chisholm Trail on that website, at https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=CH045

What amazing history we have here in El Reno! We have FAR more than just Route 66 and fried onion burgers and tornadoes to offer here at the “Crossroads of the Continent” ™.

Also of significance on this date in history, two of the most influential Presidents in U.S. history were inaugurated on this day–Abraham Lincoln, in 1861, and Franklin D. Roosevelt, in 1933. Both have interesting connections to El Reno that we’ve shared in the past.

Additional CAPTIONS / Credits:
1st Image: Picture of Jesse Chisholm from: https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=CH067 (1757, W. P. Campbell Collection, OHS).

History of El Reno

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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 22^nd. 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 11^th 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 98^th 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.

El Reno Reformatory History

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The federal reformatory was constructed in the southeast corner of Fort Reno military reservation. The first ground was broken on January 20, 1932 on the 1,000-acre tract located on the south side of U. S. Highway 66, just west of El Reno.

The first group of 25 prisoners arrived on April 3, 1933 from the reformatory at Leavenworth. These honor prisoners helped to get ready for the next 50 inmates. By August 1934 the inmate population was about 725.

The Southwestern U. S. Reformatory was opened to the public on February 10 and 11, 1934. A total of 13, 396 people visited the reformatory to view the facilities.

New construction began in late 1936 and continued through 1939 to increase the rated capacity of 750 to 1,200 prisoners.

The name “Southwestern U. S. Reformatory” was change to the El Reno Federal Reformatory.

The broom factory was installed in 1937. In the spring of 1938, the machinery and equipment were moved from the Leavenworth plant to El Reno. This made the El Reno institution the only broom factory in the U. S. prison industries set up. Over 100 inmates were employed in the factory and their average daily output was over 175 dozen brooms in 1939.

Another industry was the weaving mill. Its equipment consisted of 31 mast hand looms, dye vat, etc. the raw wool from the clipped animal was woven into wool material.

During WWII the industry shop made some 25,000 cargo nets for the armed forces.

New houses at the reformatory circle were built and part of the POW camp were remodeled to relieve the housing shortage for reformatory employees in 1947.

Around 1976 the medium security institution’s name was changed to Federal Correctional Institution of El Reno. It began taking all ages of adult male inmates. When the reformatory began it was for first termers and youthful offenders.

School and college courses were offered to the inmates. They also received vocational training in auto mechanics, food service, machine shop, welding, meat cutting and related trades instruction. The industry consisted of a machine, tool and die factory and a broom factory.

A major change in the FCI’s role came in late 1980, when a level 1 minimum security camp was built outside the prison walls.

Currently the Federal Correctional Institution is one of El Reno’s largest employers, with 430 employees. Unlike most prisons, the FCI is a major transportation center for inmates moving across the country. Virtually every inmate who is transferred across the U. S. spends the night at the El Reno facility.

Population As of July 2019 :

1,200 Total Inmates (all male)

955 Inmates at the FCI

245 Inmates at the Camp

Also worth noting: President Barack Obama visited FCI El Reno on July 16, 2015. This was the first time a sitting President has ever visited a federal prison.

Attributing research and compilation too: Carolyn Marquardt Barker (1939 – 2018)