60 Years of History in Norman Highlighted in New Book

MT. PLEASANT, S.C. - July 31, 2013 - PRLog -- The newest addition to Arcadia Publishing’s Images of America series is Norman: 1889-1949 by Sue Schrems and Vernon Maddux on behalf of the Cleveland County Historical Society. The book boasts more than 200 vintage and modern images chronicling 60 years in this Oklahoma town.

On April 22, 1889, the federal government opened the unassigned lands in central Oklahoma for settlement. Entrepreneurs, cattlemen and farmers, all seeking new opportunities, anxiously staked their claim to town lots and 160-acre homesteads. From their tents on Norman’s Main Street, businessmen started to sell their wares. Tents soon gave way to wooden shacks and, finally, two-story brick buildings.

By the beginning of the 20th century, Norman was a bustling frontier town that quickly matured into a trade center, a county seat and a university town. In the 1940s, Norman became the home of the Naval Air Technical Training Center, a naval base constructed to train navy pilots and ground support crews for World War II. Images of America: Norman: 1889-1949 takes a look at the unique history during these vital years of the town’s formation.

Highlights of Norman: 1889-1949 include:
•   Describes how the setters who risked everything to build a new territory in Oklahoma demonstrated entrepreneurship and capitalism, which serves as a model of the spirit of American society in the late 19th century.
•   Relates the history and beginning years of the University of Oklahoma, as well as the growth in businesses in early Norman.
•   Provides information on Norman during the Great Depression and how President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s economic programs brought financial relief to many residents in Norman and Cleveland County.
•   All of the authors’ proceeds from the sale of the book will benefit the Cleveland County Historical Society and the society’s guardianship of the Moore-Lindsay Historical House Museum.

Available at area bookstores, independent retailers, and online retailers, or through Arcadia Publishing at (888)-313-2665 or online.  

Arcadia Publishing is the leading publisher of local and regional history in the United States.  Our mission is to make history accessible and meaningful through the publication of books on the heritage of America’s people and places.  Have we done a book on your town?  Visit www.arcadiapublishing.com/.