Guthrie — Oklahoma's Victorian Territorial Capital

Just half an hour north of Oklahoma City lies a town that time nearly forgot, and Oklahoma is the richer for it. Guthrie sprang into existence in a single afternoon during the Land Run of April 22, 1889, growing from empty prairie to a city of 10,000 by nightfall, and it served as the capital of Oklahoma Territory and then the state until 1910, when the seat of government was spirited away to Oklahoma City overnight. The loss froze Guthrie in its Victorian prime, and the result is the largest contiguous urban National Historic Landmark district in the United States — some 2,000 buildings of red brick and native sandstone, largely untouched. This single-day journey walks the storied downtown, tours the immense Scottish Rite Temple, traces territorial history at the Oklahoma Territorial Museum, and takes in a performance space at the century-old Pollard Theatre, with a leisurely lunch on a genuine 1890s main street.