Our Arklahoma Heritage: Delaware County man called "Oklahoma's First Citizen" at 1929 Hall of Fame induction
- Dennis McCaslin
- Apr 19
- 3 min read
Charles Francis Colcord was born on August 18, 1859, on a large plantation near Cane Ridge in Bourbon County, Kentucky. His father, William Rogers Colcord, served as a Confederate colonel during the Civil War. His mother was Maria Elizabeth Clay. As a boy Colcord suffered from malaria, and his family sent him to a ranch in Texas for recovery. There he learned the demands of ranch work.
At age 16 he left home to work as a cowboy. He helped drive cattle along trails that included routes to Baxter Springs, Kansas, and gained experience that prepared him for larger operations.
In September 1884 Colcord married Harriet Scoresby, the daughter of a Methodist minister. The couple lived briefly near Flagstaff, Arizona, before moving to Oklahoma Territory. On April 22, 1889, Colcord took part in the Land Run into the Unassigned Lands. He arrived in the new settlement that became Oklahoma City and traded his team, wagon, and outfit for a lot that some accounts identify as the first claimed site in the city. He sold the claim quickly and settled into the growing town.
In the early chaotic days of Oklahoma City, Colcord served as the first chief of police under the provisional government. He worked under several mayors and received payment of one dollar for each arrest. When Oklahoma County was organized in 1890, voters elected him the first sheriff. He also received a commission as deputy United States marshal and served for about five years, often alongside Bill Tilghman. In that role he pursued members of the Dalton Gang, the Doolin Gang, Bill Tulsa, Jack Blake, Richard Little Dick West, and other outlaws active in the territory. He helped capture several members of the Dalton Gang and oversaw aspects of their processing.
Colcord participated in the 1893 Cherokee Outlet opening and staked a claim near Perry, where he operated a ranch for several years before returning to Oklahoma City. By the late 1890s, he turned his attention to business. He founded the Commercial National Bank of Oklahoma City and served as its first president. He also held the position of vice president at the State National Bank.
He entered real estate development and insurance. He helped organize the Oklahoma City Building and Loan Association and supported efforts to designate Oklahoma City as the state capital.
Colcord invested in the early Oklahoma oil industry and profited from fields that included the Glenn Pool. With those resources he constructed the Colcord Building in downtown Oklahoma City. Completed in 1910, the 12- to 14-story structure was the city's first skyscraper and its first steel-reinforced concrete building. The project cost about 750,000 dollars and stood as a symbol of the young city's growth. He also built a Classical Revival mansion at 421 West Thirteenth Street, modeled after his childhood home in Kentucky.
In the 1920s Colcord purchased a large cattle ranch of approximately 2,000 acres in southern Delaware County, west of a small community then known as Row or Little Tulsa.
Local residents decided to name their new town Colcord in his honor. He responded by purchasing football uniforms for the high school team.
The post office moved from Row to Colcord on February 1, 1930. Colcord spent time at the ranch and employed local workers. His daughter Harriet and her husband, Jim White, later operated the Jug Brand Fruit Farm on the property.
Colcord held leadership positions in civic organizations. He served as president of the Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce and as president of the Oklahoma Historical Society. He reached the thirty-second degree in the Masonic Order.
In 1929 he received induction into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame. Some contemporaries referred to him as Oklahoma's First Citizen because of his broad contributions to the territory and the state.
Colcord died on December 10, 1934, at age 75 at his ranch in Delaware County.
His body lay in state in the rotunda of the Oklahoma Historical Society building under a police honor guard. He was buried in Fairlawn Cemetery in Oklahoma City.
He was survived by his wife, Harriet, and six children. One son, Charles F. Colcord Jr., had died in 1900 at a young age. His estate was valued at about 1.5 million dollars.
The town of Colcord in Delaware County continues to recognize its namesake through local events such as Old Settlers Day. The Colcord Building still stands in Oklahoma City and operates today as the Colcord Hotel, a preserved landmark from the city's early skyscraper era.
Colcord's path from A Kentucky plantation to cowboy trails, frontier law enforcement, and urban development illustrates the rapid changes that shaped Oklahoma from territory to state.
His work in law, banking, oil, and construction left lasting structures and institutions in the region he helped settle.
