OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – A man born in Illinois, but a pioneer to the state of Oklahoma is now forever memorialized with a sculpture and plaza on the state fairgrounds.
“He is probably the most famous Oklahoman that you don’t know anything about,” Randy McMillan with the Oklahoma City-County Historical Society said at the sculptures unveiling.
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It stands tall between the Bennett Event Center and Centennial Building where any Oklahoman can get to know a legend in the history of our state dubbed one of the founding fathers, Charles Jones.
“He was always doing whatever he thought was best for the territory and what was best for the state of Oklahoma,” McMillan said.
A laundry list of accomplishments sit on a plaque just below the sculpture. Among several things, he was on the first territorial and Oklahoma Legislatures, a two-time mayor of Oklahoma City and he led the efforts to get the state capitol from Guthrie to where it sits now. He even founded the towns of Mustang and Jones, the latter of which is named after him. He also built the first flour mill in Oklahoma City. His product got first place at the 1893 World Fair in Chicago…