To learn more about Durant, visit the city of Durant's website or the Main Street Organization, some of the best websites a town has ever put together. |
This old building on Main Street looks like a wild west saloon. Next to it is the Bryan Hotel, which are now very nice apartments. |
Things to See and Do: Don't forget to visit the large peanut, located on the northeast corner of the city hall. The Three Valley Museum is dedicated to Durant's and Bryan County history. The name comes from Durant's location between the Red, Blue, and Washita Rivers. Open M-F 1-5pm, it's located at 401 W. Main Street. Call 580-920-1907 for more information. Lake Texoma is close by on Hwy 70! Southeastern Oklahoma State University sits on a beautiful magnolia- ed (is that a word?) campus. Alumni include Reba McIntire, Dennis Rodman, and Brett Butler, among others. Fort Washita is 14 short miles away. Fair Child's Gallery is full of First Nation artworks and artifacts. It can be viewed after making arrangements by calling 580-924-2399. |
Downtown Durant is full of older buildings that are proudly kept. The Plaza theater is next to a functional barber shop, which is next to a realtor's office that has kept the old pharmacy signs - even the Coca Cola advertisements on the windows. |
Durant: My Oklahoma Home Town |
Truss bridge on the Lee Highway, aka US 70, over the Blue River. |
Questions or comments? E-mail me: robin@redriverhistorian.com |
Cotton became Durant's staple crop. (Oklahoma Historical Society). |
The Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad secured Durant's future as a major city inside Indian Territory. |
In 1900, famed historian Grant Foreman worked for the Dawes Commission, documenting economic activity in Indian Territory. This photograph shows the interior yard of one of Durant's cotton gins. (Oklahoma Historical Society). |
Defunct cotton seed and peanut oil mill southeast of downtown Durant. |
Downtown Durant, with a street car line and unpaved Main Street, around 1895. Oklahoma Historical Society. |
Train shed next to the tracks a block south off Main Street. Like Denison, Texas, Durant also had a number of railroads converging into town. This may have been part of the Union Depot complex. |
The Union Depot in downtown Durant (Oklahoma Historical Society). |
This may be the Missouri Oklahoma and Gulf Railway station in Durant. The building front looks the same, at any rate. |
A mystery building in Durant that has now been torn down. I believe this was a ticket agent office, but am unsure from which railroad line. |
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