Oologah and the house where Will Rogers was born opens the 2007 Will Rogers Days celebration, the 128th anniversary of the his Nov. 4, 1879 birthday on his father’s Indian Territory Ranch.
The lure of travels and show business took him away from the ranch of his birth. He left before there was an Oklahoma, but has been held dear in the hearts of those who knew him as the son of Clem and Mary America Rogers — and the millions who have come to know and love him through his writings, movies, radio and philanthropic works, and stage and screen.
This birthday, guests will find the ranch house surrounded by a white picket fence as it was in young Will’s day. Dedication of the fence project will be on the program with Jim Hartz, Will Rogers Memorial Commission chairman, as master of ceremonies.
Voices of Kim Grazier’s Oologah second grade students will ring out as they sing, just as they have for many years.
Mary West, Oologah tag agent and civic leader, will sing, and Claremore Veterans of Foreign Wars will present the colors.
A party would not be complete without birthday cake and cookies, hosted by Oolagah Historical Society and Will Rogers Memorial.
The ranch completed in 1875 and moved to the present site in 1961 — and an era-correct barn built by Amish farmers in 1993 — is part of the Will Rogers Dog Iron Ranch State Park and is open to the public 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily 365 days a year.