What’s Up, Edmond?! Thanks for being part of the What’s Up Edmond community! We have a fun edition for you today. 🎃 Not only are we celebrating a new Citizen of the Week nominated by YOU, but Dylan is also sharing a spooky piece of Edmond history! Annnnd back by popular demand…Monday Trivia returns!

You won’t want to miss this one!

- Dylan & Becca

Please note: double check all events as schedules could change and typos are a thing!

Which famous actor was offered the role of Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings films but turned it down?

A. Sean Connery
B. Anthony Hopkins
C. Patrick Stewart
D. Michael Caine

Help us celebrate this week’s Citizen of the Week, Subrina Banks, nominated by Jill Garst.

“Subrina is such a kind, compassionate, giving person. She experienced so many hardships with the health of her children when they were younger. Because of her experiences, she walked away from a very successful career to not only help her kids but to also help others. She went back to school a few years ago and got board certified in holistic health so that she could help other people who were struggling to find answers just like she did. Now she owns and operates Olive Branch Functional Wellness in Edmond where she offers hope and healing for the community. People come from all over the state to see her. Not only because she is good at what she does, but also because she listens and understands that everyone has a story that matters!”

A BIG thank-you to Jordy Acklin with Acklin Construction, our Citizen of the Week sponsor, for helping us celebrate Subrina and generously donating a gift card to Cafe Evoke for her to enjoy! Do you know someone who makes an impact in Edmond? Nominate them using the link below!

KNOW SOMEONE WHO DESERVES A SHOUT OUT?

We want to hear about them! Our Citizen of the Week feature celebrates the incredible people who make Edmond a better place to live, work, and raise a family. Whether it’s a teacher who goes above and beyond, a neighbor who always shows up, a local volunteer, or someone who simply brings joy to everyone around them, we want to help tell their story!

Every cup from my Keurig started tasting weak, flat, stale — so I unplugged it and stuck it in a closet. Then I learned the dirty secret of grocery store K-Cups: by the time a pod reaches your kitchen, it's usually spent months going from factory to warehouse to truck to shelf. The flavor oils are long gone. Some brands even over-roast to hide it.

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Most Edmond residents who drive over the train tracks in Edmond have no idea they are driving over history, bloodshed, and violence belonging to an era long forgotten. If you start at the 33^rd street crossing, walking north several hundred yards, you will eventually stumble upon a gravesite. Not the type of thing you expect to see in Edmond, and especially not talked about enough, and very hidden from public view. This is sacred ground, belonging to two men who died there over 140 years ago. 

I stood near the intersection of 33rd Street and the railroad tracks in Edmond, imagining the scene on that boiling, autumn night of September 17, 1886. Back then, Frank Mosier and Willie Davis were just two exhausted laborers among a massive crew of more than 5,000 men, laying steel for the Kansas Railway, a project carving its way through the territory to link major hubs from Chicago, Illinois, all the way down to Galveston, Texas. Though they were thought to be friends, the atmosphere in these mobile man-camps was often volatile. With the Oklahoma Land Run still over two years away, these workers blew off steam through gambling and bare-knuckle boxing. I can almost see the spectacle: two men squaring off under the vast September sky while thousands of their peers watched. 

Whether their deaths were the result of a specific brawl remains a mystery, but the violence of that era is etched into the very ground where they fell. Willie Davis’ memorial - a crumbling, rusted iron cross said to have been forged by his own brother. It stands as a decaying reminder of a fight that broke out over 140 years ago. Nearby, Frank Mosier’s sandstone headstone has been nearly erased by time, though you can still just barely make out his name and the date of his passing. Because these graves sit on the railroad’s right-of-way, they remain in a state of neglect, slowly vanishing alongside the history of the men who built these tracks.

Located atop a hill in Central Edmond at the corner of 9^th and Rankin sits Central Middle School - the original site of Edmond High School, constructed in the mid 1950’s. It wasn’t until the 60’s, that a new high school, Edmond Memorial, was being constructed a mile to the south, and until the 70’s that Memorial High School Students started moving over. The origin of that site where Central Middle School sits today, goes back even further. 

In the late 1800’s, Edmond was a bustling town on the brink of infancy. People were moving in, settling into town, and post land-run, people were attracted to settling down in a town that had a variety of options- groceries, park, entertainment, all within a small radius.  It must have been remarkable to see the city we now call home in its earliest days.  Inevitably, with a surge in population, comes the need to bury the deceased- and there was a large problem. Bodies could not be buried on federal land, and the only section in Edmond that was not federal land was section 36, right near the hill where Central Middle School stands today and the surrounding neighborhood to the north. For several years, bodies were buried by family members and townspeople alike, all over section 36- the only spot in Edmond that they could. This situation rose to a head in 1895, when city leaders elected a committee to search and purpose a specific plot of land for a city cemetery. The official record of the vote occurred on April 11, 1895, with the April 4 edition of the Edmond-Sun Democrat calling for election and purchase of the land. 

Twenty acres of property in North Edmond at the intersection of Danforth and Boulevard was purchased, and a true cemetery was created in Edmond which is now called Gracelawn Cemetery. Several Edmond leaders are buried here, including Milton Wellington “Kickingbird” Reynolds, founder of the Edmond Sun, and Land Run Participant via train in 1889. 

With a new cemetery in place, a grueling task lay ahead- exhuming the bodies in section 36 in Edmond, and re-locating them to the newly plotted land for the deceased.  There was no rhyme, reason, order, or leadership in the move- each family could help move their departed, or hire out the labor as they wished. As you could imagine, there were many graves unmarked, and haphazard piles of dirt lined the grimly, unkept section 36 in Edmond. Not all bodies were moved- there was no official record of the graves pre-1895. 

As the years went on - the city continued to grow. Neighborhoods were established, city streets, sewer lines, and utilities were dug. Edmond High School (now Central Middle School) was built. But the memories of the departed, and chilling tales of spirits that still are there, continue to haunt some of the visitors of the school. A lady in Victorian clothing has said to have been seen wandering the halls late at night, and loud noises such as slamming doors and loud whispering is said to have been heard. Are these the voices of the departed, crying out to be put to rest? Only time will tell. We can only wonder how many bodies remain buried near Section 36 today. 

Written by:
Dylan Crawford
Owner of What’s Up Edmond

We want to hear all about the people, businesses, history, and hidden gems here in Edmond and are looking for people willing to share their stories! Stories can be emailed to us directly at [email protected] and may be selected as a feature story in our newsletter! Don’t forget to include some photos that help tell your story!

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A. Sean Connery

Sean Connery was offered the role of Gandalf in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy but declined because he didn’t understand the story. The role eventually went to Ian McKellen, whose performance became one of the most iconic portrayals in fantasy cinema. Connery reportedly turned down a substantial salary and a share of the films’ profits!