Editing Shawnee, Oklahoma (section)

===Pottawatomie County Seat dispute===
[[File:Pottawatomie county oklahoma courthouse.jpg|thumb|Pottawatomie County Courthouse]]

In 1907 Oklahoma was admitted as a state and 8,024 people voted that the county seat be moved to Shawnee while 5,027 wanted it to remain in Tecumseh. The case was appealed and the higher courts decided [[bribery]] might have figured into the election since Shawnee had offered use of property in Woodland Park as a site for the county court house. In 1911, the people of Pottawatomie County again voted to keep the county seat at Tecumseh, by a vote of 7,749 to 5,927.

In October 1930 some 6,700 signatures were collected on a petition to ask Governor [[William J. Holloway]] for a referendum on the site of the county seat. A special election was held December 18, and 12,800 voters, a record number, went to the polls. Shawnee won the necessary two-thirds majority by a 90-vote margin. A recount cut this to 11. Tecumseh filed suit, alleging election fraud relating to a $35,000 slush fund, Shawnee supporters providing liquor at the polls, college boys being allowed to vote, etc.  The Supreme Court favored Shawnee.

Until the mid-1930s, county officers contracted business in downtown Shawnee buildings.  President Franklin D. Roosevelt's [[New Deal]] helped fund construction of a new county courthouse in Shawnee which was built in Woodland Park. On July 6, 1935, Governor [[E.W. Marland]] dedicated the new building.<ref>{{cite book |url=http://www.okolha.net/pott_county_part1.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304192830/http://okolha.net/pott_county_part1.htm |archive-date=2016-03-04 |title=A History of Pottawatomie County |first=John |last=Fortson |year=1936}}</ref>