L. R. Kershaw - Early Indian Territory and Oklahoma Land Development

Early Indian Territory and Oklahoma Land Development

Kershaw graduated from Elmwood, Illinois, High School and worked his way through college waiting tables, selling nursery stock and selling real estate. Kershaw graduated from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, where he was a charter member of the honorary law fraternity, the Benjamin D. Magruder Chapter of Phi Alpha Delta in 1904. Professionally, he first became an Immigrant Agent for the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway, also known as the Frisco railroad, selling land to farmers for farms along the wide railroad right-of way in Northeastern Oklahoma. He bought many farms along the way, and in 1904 moved to Oklahoma himself. He was one of the founders of the Farmer's State Bank in Morris (in 1905) and the First National Bank of Morris (in 1908), (Indian Territory) Oklahoma. In 1910 he purchased the controlling interest in the National Bank of Okmulgee, Oklahoma. With the connections he had established with the railroad, he platted the town site of Morris, Oklahoma. The town of Morris was named after H. E. Morris, a railroad executive with the Frisco railroad. The railroad went through the center of town, between Ft. Smith, Arkansas, and Tulsa, Oklahoma. The town of Morris was founded in 1904, before statehood. Oklahoma became a state in November 1907.

In Morris, Oklahoma, many of the street names were named after towns Kershaw was familiar with in Illinois, such as Elmwood, his place of birth, along with Pekin and Peoria. Hughes Street, the main street of Morris was named in honor of the General Immigration Agent for the Frisco Railroad, and President of the Frisco System Land & Immigration Association, Samuel A. Hughes. He also named a short street Frisco, after the railroad which brought him to Oklahoma, and streets were named after several Presidents, including Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Jackson as well as one after Benjamin Franklin, one of the early leaders of the United States.

Kershaw always maintained strong financial ties to Muskogee, including his appointment in 1910 as an agent for the Bartholomew Motor Company, of Peoria, Illinois, representing the Muskogee area. The Bartholomew Company produced the Glide (automobile company) car, an entry-level 4 to 7-passenger touring car. Kershaw used one of these touring cars to transport potential buyers interested in buying farms in the area. His appointment as an automobile dealer was short-lived as he foresaw the future being more profitable in the real estate sales and development business than in the sale of automobiles.

Kershaw was a delegate representing the City of Muskogee at the Trans-Mississippi Commercial Congress held in Kansas City, Missouri, in November 1911. In December 1911, Kershaw was a delegate representing the State of Oklahoma at the Nineteenth National Irrigation Congress in Chicago, IL. The Congress was influential in recommending conservation and reclamation of arid lands in the newly populated areas of the country. The Congress help draft legislation for the creation of water reservoirs for the future drinking water and hydro-electric power generation needs of the country. Over time, Oklahoma developed more man-made reservoirs of water than any other state and today has more lakeshore frontage than any other state in the country, with the exception of Minnesota.