Editing Edmond, Oklahoma (section)

===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"/>