OKLAHOMA CITY -- Almost 20 years ago a $6.5 million memorial disappeared from the Oklahoma landscape. Tucked back in behind some trees near Northwest 63rd and Martin Luther King Drive, is the ruins of the U.S. Marshal Service. Back in the 1980s a private foundation started raising money to build the memorial.
In 1988, the foundation held a ground-breaking. Movie stars and politicians attended. Former Oklahoma Attorney General, G.T. Blankenship was on the board of the U.S. Marshals Service Foundation.
He says, "It was to memorialize the history of the things that occurred here after the run of '89."
You may remember from the history books that the U.S. Marshals brought order to chaos back in the days of the wild Wild West.
They paid the price for that work too; more Marshals died in Oklahoma than in any other state.
Few remember exactly what happened to the money that was raised by the U.S. Marshal Service Memorial Foundation, but one thing is for sure, it ran out.
Blankenship says, "The finances didn't develop that were needed to complete it. It certainly should have been adequate. There was enough effort made, but it's just one of those things that faded off into the history of Oklahoma."
The foundation went bankrupt; Oklahoma contractors who had poured time and money into the memorial were left empty-handed.
The property near N.W. 63rd and MLK went into foreclosure.
The Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum is located right across the street from the defunct memorial; they bought the property at a Sheriff's Sale.
Then, time took over. Mother Nature started charging rent and the price was high.
Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum CEO, Chuck Schroeder says, "There's some remnants of the construction that the Marshalls Association had done. There's a structure over there that was part of the memorial that they were establishing."
What the change of seasons didn't destroy, vandals did.
Some marble is left. The concrete walls that used to hold slabs of granite are still standing. They are lost in a labyrinth of trees; for the most part, the Memorial has disappeared.
Schroeder says, "It was a sad day for the folks who had had this marvelous notion of what might be done to honor the U.S. Marshal Service."
It is a sad page of history in the Oklahoma story; but it is a story worth remembering, so there's less of a chance it happens again.
There is one bright spot for the U.S. Marshals Service. A few years ago, another private foundation started raising money to resurrect a new memorial.
They are well into the process of establishing a museum and memorial in Fort Smith, Arkansas.
The new foundation has no tied to the old one. Their efforts are expected to establish a museum and memorial in Arkansas in the next few years.
In 1988, the foundation held a ground-breaking. Movie stars and politicians attended. Former Oklahoma Attorney General, G.T. Blankenship was on the board of the U.S. Marshals Service Foundation.
He says, "It was to memorialize the history of the things that occurred here after the run of '89."
You may remember from the history books that the U.S. Marshals brought order to chaos back in the days of the wild Wild West.
They paid the price for that work too; more Marshals died in Oklahoma than in any other state.
Few remember exactly what happened to the money that was raised by the U.S. Marshal Service Memorial Foundation, but one thing is for sure, it ran out.
Blankenship says, "The finances didn't develop that were needed to complete it. It certainly should have been adequate. There was enough effort made, but it's just one of those things that faded off into the history of Oklahoma."
The foundation went bankrupt; Oklahoma contractors who had poured time and money into the memorial were left empty-handed.
The property near N.W. 63rd and MLK went into foreclosure.
The Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum is located right across the street from the defunct memorial; they bought the property at a Sheriff's Sale.
Then, time took over. Mother Nature started charging rent and the price was high.
Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum CEO, Chuck Schroeder says, "There's some remnants of the construction that the Marshalls Association had done. There's a structure over there that was part of the memorial that they were establishing."
What the change of seasons didn't destroy, vandals did.
Some marble is left. The concrete walls that used to hold slabs of granite are still standing. They are lost in a labyrinth of trees; for the most part, the Memorial has disappeared.
Schroeder says, "It was a sad day for the folks who had had this marvelous notion of what might be done to honor the U.S. Marshal Service."
It is a sad page of history in the Oklahoma story; but it is a story worth remembering, so there's less of a chance it happens again.
There is one bright spot for the U.S. Marshals Service. A few years ago, another private foundation started raising money to resurrect a new memorial.
They are well into the process of establishing a museum and memorial in Fort Smith, Arkansas.
The new foundation has no tied to the old one. Their efforts are expected to establish a museum and memorial in Arkansas in the next few years.
