The First Eight Months of Oklahoma City.

THE CITY'S FIRST POSTMASTER

G. A. Beidler, the first postmaster of Oklahoma City, came into the territory April 11th, 1889, by appointment of the postmaster general, and in the line of official duty, and opened up his office in a small primitive stockade building put up by him as a temporary shelter for the U. S. mails, and it was while in said contracted quarters that he met the great avalanche of humanity which swept down upon Oklahoma on April 22, 1889, and where he continued to conduct the business of the office until he was able to erect a more commodious postoffice building into which he afterward moved and where he has continued to con-duct the business of the postoffice ever since.

He was born and raised in the Keystone state and has had a somewhat eventful life, the first part of it commencing in having been born a "seventh son."

He lived in Philadelphia for ten years and during the time of the great Centennial in 1876. In 1862 he went into the army from the state of Illinois, joining Co. "B," 106th Reg. Inf. Vols. as a private, was afterward promoted to sergeant major of the regiment and then to lieutenant of his company, serving for three years, or until the close of the war. He was mustered out of the service at Springfield, Illinois. He spent a number of years in prospecting and in gold and silver mining in the mountains of Colorado, Montana, and Utah. He crossed the briny deep to Europe in 1872 on a business and pleasure trip combined. He has spent many of his years in the line of inventing and is an inventor of considerable note, a number of his inventions being on sale in the markets all over this country and in parts of Europe.

For many years he had his thoughts turned toward Oklahoma with an abiding faith that it would eventually be opened up to settlement, and with the determination that when that time came he would join his fortunes with

page 77

it and make his home within its borders. He has great faith in Oklahoma City's future and expects to see her a city of 25,000 people within five years. Ever since the opening day he has done his part toward building up a grand, moral and religious community by giving his advice and assistance and by his daily walk in life. Part of his postoffice building was the first put to use as a place for religious worship by the different congregations and for the Sunday Schools and was so used for quite a length of time.