Early History
1934 Early School and Students, Viewed facing N.W 39th St. (Pictured Above)
I.M. Putnam
I.M. Putnam was born on a farm in Early County, Georgia, Dec. 19, 1873, to Jesse Mercer and Zenia Putnam, and descended on his father’s side from the Putnams of Revolutionary War fame. His New-Englander great-grandfather moved from Massachusetts to Georgia where both his grandfather and father were raised He attended school in Tennessee and graduated from Vanderbilt University in 1899 with a bachelors degree. Two years later he completed the law course at the University of Georgia and came directly to Oklahoma City, where he formed a law firm with Sam Hooker, who was a county judge of Oklahoma County in 1908.In 1906 he was married in Shawnee, Oklahoma, to Harriet Cockrell. They resided in Putnam Heights, which he helped develop. He was active in Masonic circles, Elks, Odd Fellows and Knights of Pythias and was a former director of the Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce.
Foreseeing the potential greatness of his adopted city he embarked in the real estate business, dissolving his law partnership to devote himself full time to it.
In 1902 he organized the Putnam Company, one of the most successful real estate concerns in Oklahoma City. By 1908, Putnam had developed and placed on the market numerous notable additions, among them Epworth View, Military Park, Putnam Park, Putnam Heights, Putnam City, Lakeside and Lakeside Heights. His public spirit and genuine desire for Oklahoma City’s welfare were evidenced by his donation of the site for the Oklahoma College for Young Ladies, The State Baptist Orphan School and part of the site for Epworth University. He also owned Putnam Park and a number of first-class farms located close to Oklahoma City. Hot Sulphur Wells at San Antonio, which was a noted resort in Texas, was also his property.
Putnam always took an active interest in politics and was a familiar personality at the Democratic conventions. He had not sought or held office until 1907 when he was elected to the legislature. There he displayed the same tact and generalship which had given him so much success in his private undertakings.
Putnam was a staunch supporter of all movements and measures looking to the welfare of the community in which he lived. It was he who launched the boom for locating the State Capitol in Oklahoma City. It was mostly through his efforts that this proposition was brought before the legislature of Guthrie and the people of Oklahoma in general.
In 1910 a local paper noted that an offer was made by the Putnam Company for a tract of land, consisting of 2000 acres, for the state capitol location. The land was offered for $1 and the goodwill of the people. The land was located northwest of Oklahoma City between Putnam Park and Putnam City. As an enticement, he constructed a large building that was to house the state government. This building became a part of the Putnam City Consolidated Public School System (the Arnett Building).
Early in Oklahoma’s history, Putnam bought the section of land bordered by N.W. 23rd St. and N. Western and N.W. 36th and N. Pennsylvania. Here he started development of the Putnam City area.
He died in San Antonio, Texas, in 1961 at the age of 90.
In 1914, taking a first step toward the scholastic excellence that became Putnam City Schools, the pioneer residents of Council Grove Township voted to consolidate into School District #1.
The conditions of consolidation in order for schools to receive state aid were: (1) consolidated area of at least 25 square miles, (2) have a building with at least three rooms, (3) have at least 130 students: employed as many as three teachers; and have school organization in existence at least six months. Original consolidation involved four one-room schools holding class for grades one through eight. These included Central School, N.W. 23rd and Rockwell; Ozmun School, N.W. 23rd and Portland; off School, N.W. 63rd and Rockwell; County Line School, Wilshire and County Line Road.
For the 1914 school year classes were held in the I.M. Putnam Building, which became the Arnett Building in August 1916.
In 1915 classes were first held in the new two-story building at 40th and Grove, (Stop 9 on the Interurban) with 160 students and six teachers in attendance. Four horse drawn vans were provided to transport students living at least two miles from school. There was a stable shed near the school for horses that some students rode to school. Some rode the Interurban. The first motorized buses were used in 1922.
The first graduating class of three students was in 1919. In 1924 the entire school was still in one building, but then began to spread out with a new high school to the east and an elementary school to the west.
The Christmas season saw catastrophy strike in 1940 when the original school burned. In January 1942, the high school burned and was rebuilt on the same site.
By 1955 the school property spread from near MacArthur to Ann Arbor, included the Arnett Building and allowed room for a sports stadium.
By 1957, changing demographics prompted the beginning of a building program away from the original campus with construction of Kirkland and Hilldale grade schools. This changed the Putnam City School System from Consolidated District #1 to Independent School District #1. Continued growth necessitated a new high school at 50th and Ann Arbor which opened in 1958. By 1967 graduation classes had bulged to nearly 1,000 students requiring a second high school, Putnam City West, which opened in 1968, and a third, Putnam City North High School, in 1978.
By the school year 2000, Putnam City Schools had enlarged to 18 elementary, five middle and three high schools, plus the Academy for those requiring a special learning environment. The total school population was more than 19,000. There were approximately 1,300 teachers, 27 principals, 50 counselors, 108 librarians and aides, 25 nurses and aides, 228 custodians, 20 campus police officers and 80 bus drivers.
FOR MORE history and more details visit the museum and read these articles.
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