Editing Edmond, Oklahoma (section)

==History==
[[File:Edmond1891tmfowler.jpg|thumb|Edmond, Oklahoma Territory, 1891]]

===19th century===
The [[Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway|Santa Fe rail line]] in [[Oklahoma Territory]] established a water and coaling station for steam engines at this location when the Santa Fe Railroad built into Indian Territory in 1887.<ref name="OKAlmanac">[http://www.odl.state.ok.us/almanac/2005/12-muni.pdf Oklahoma Municipal Government], ''Oklahoma Almanac'', 2005, p. 535. (accessed October 1, 2013)</ref> The site for the station was chosen because it was the highest point on the line in Oklahoma County; trains could more easily accelerate going downhill while leaving the station in either direction. The railroad then named the station for Edmond Burdick, the Santa Fe's traveling freight agent.<ref name="EOHC-Edmond">[http://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=ED002 Brenda Granger, "Edmond," ''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture''.] Accessed October 1, 2013</ref> When the town was formed after the [[Oklahoma Land Run]] of 1889, early settlers decided to adopt the name. Though most of the remnants of the old railroad infrastructure are gone, the Santa Fe, now [[BNSF]], freight line still runs through the same course.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=la014|title=Land Run of 1889 {{!}} The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture|website=www.okhistory.org|language=en|access-date=February 27, 2018}}</ref> {{Citation needed|date=June 2010}}

The town of Edmond sprang up overnight during the great Oklahoma land run on April 22, 1889, when homesteads were staked around the Santa Fe station.<ref name="EOHC-LandRun" /> The original plat for Edmond was prepared by the Seminole Town and Development Company, a newly formed syndicate with ties to the railroad.<ref name="OKAlmanac"/> Many of the original streets were named for men associated with either the Santa Fe Railroad or the town syndicate. The first mayor and city officers were elected in May 1889, and Edmond's population was 294 in the 1890 census.

The first public schoolhouse in Oklahoma Territory, completed in August 1889, is in Edmond.<ref name="EOHC-Edmond"/> It still stands as a historic monument on 2nd Street between Boulevard and Broadway, and is open to the public on the first two Saturdays of each month or by appointment.

St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, the first church opened after the land run,<ref name="EOHC-Edmond"/> was located on the southwest corner of East First and South Boulevard. The congregation still exists, although not in its original building or location.<ref>"[http://www.stjohn-catholic.org/history.html Parish History - An Overview] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091120101645/http://www.stjohn-catholic.org/history.html |date=November 20, 2009}}," Official St. John the Baptist Website. (accessed October 1, 2013)</ref>

In December 1890, the territorial legislature established three universities, the state university in Norman, the agricultural and mechanical college in Stillwater, and a "normal" or teaching school in Edmond.
The first classes for the Territorial Normal School (University of Central Oklahoma) were held November 9, 1891, in the Methodist Church on the southwest corner of North Broadway and West Hurd. Old North, the Territorial Normal School's iconic first building, was opened for classes on January 2, 1893, and ahead of Oklahoma State University's Central Hall or Oklahoma University's Science Hall.<ref>''Sooner Magazine'', September 1965 (Volume 38, Issue 1), http://digital.libraries.ou.edu/sooner/issue_info.asp?issueID=478</ref>

The ''[[Edmond Sun]]'', established by Milton W. "Kicking Bird" Reynolds on July 18, 1889, was the state's oldest continuous newspaper dating from Oklahoma Territorial days.<ref name="EOHC-Edmond"/>

===20th century===
[[File:Edmond Oklahoma Old Seal.jpg|thumb|Old seal used from 1965 until 1996 with cross in right quadrant]]
In the early 20th century, Edmond was known as a [[sundown town]]. Racial covenants barred property sales to individuals of races other than White people or Native Americans in every neighborhood built between 1911 and 1949, except the Edmond Highway Addition in 1924. Racial housing covenants in the United States became unenforceable in 1948 after the ''[[Shelley v. Kraemer]]'' decision by the [[United States Supreme Court]].<ref name="Nondoc-SundownTown">{{cite news |last1=Tomlinson |first1=Joe |title=Edmond man finds racially restrictive covenant language amid neighborhood dispute |url=https://nondoc.com/2022/07/08/racially-restrictive-covenant-language-found-edmond/ |access-date=8 July 2022 |publisher=NonDoc |date=8 July 2022}}</ref>

In 1925, a new city charter was written for the city, including a still-enforced requirement that all candidates for mayor or city council be [[Freehold (law)|freeholders]], or landowners within the city.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Douglas |first1=Blake |title=Property ownership requirement bars Edmond renters from holding city office |url=https://nondoc.com/2024/11/30/candidates-question-edmond-property-ownership-requirement/ |access-date=November 30, 2024 |work=NonDoc |date=30 November 2024}}</ref>

Edmond was the site of [[Edmond post office shooting|a workplace shooting]] on August 20, 1986, in which 14 people were killed and six wounded by Patrick Sherrill, a postman who then committed suicide. This event was the deadliest killing in a string of U.S. postal employee murder–suicides that inspired the slang term "[[going postal]]".<ref name=Postal>{{cite news|last=Staff|title=Shootings Seal Post Office Rep|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-4246053.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140629090030/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-4246053.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 29, 2014|access-date=May 22, 2014|newspaper=Chicago Sun Times  |date=September 4, 1994}}</ref> A memorial to the victims of the attack stands outside the U.S. Post Office in downtown Edmond.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM9CHG_Edmond_Post_Office_Memorial_Fountain_Edmond_Oklahoma|title=Edmond Post Office Memorial Fountain - Edmond, Oklahoma - Fountains on Waymarking.com|website=www.waymarking.com}}</ref>

The city was the subject of a [[Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals]] case challenging the depiction of a Christian cross on the city seal, raising issues concerning the [[Establishment Clause]] of the U.S. Constitution. In May 1996, the Supreme Court let stand a Federal Appeals Court ruling ordering the city to remove the cross from the seal.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-10th-circuit/1287489.html|title=FindLaw's United States Tenth Circuit case and opinions.|website=Findlaw}}</ref> Rather than replace the cross, the city council voted to leave the spot blank so as to "remind people of what was there," as well as this being the least expensive way to comply.<ref>{{Cite web|date=1996-05-29|title=Edmond to Leave Blank Cross's Space on Seal|url=https://oklahoman.com/article/2538195/edmond-to-leave-blank-crosss-space-on-seal/|access-date=2022-01-30|website=Oklahoman.com|language=en-US}}</ref>

===21st century===
A memorial service for famed Oklahoman [[baseball]] player [[Bobby Murcer]] was held in Edmond on August 6, 2008, at the Memorial Road Church of Christ. Among the some 2,000 attending the memorial were [[Reggie Jackson]], [[Derek Jeter]], [[Andy Pettitte]], and former Yankees manager [[Joe Girardi]].<ref name="murcer">{{cite web|url=http://newsok.com/late-yankee-slugger-bobby-murcers-life-celebrated-in-edmond/article/3279914|title=Late Yankee slugger Bobby Murcer's life celebrated in Edmond|date=August 6, 2008|work=NewsOK.com|author=Bob Hersom}}</ref>

In 2011, Darrell Davis was elected as the first [[African American|Black]] city councilor in Edmond's history, and in 2021, he was elected the first Black mayor of Edmond.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Hinton |first1=Carla |title=Tinker retiree Darrell Davis makes history as first Black mayor of Edmond, a former 'sundown town' |url=https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/2021/04/10/darell-davis-makes-history-first-black-elected-edmond-mayor/7141832002/ |access-date=November 30, 2024 |work=[[The Oklahoman]] |date=April 10, 2021}}</ref>