06/11/2023
The old ranch house where cowboy humorist and actor Will Rogers was born will pass from the Oklahoma Historical Society to the Cherokee Nation on Monday, a transaction the new owners say will lead to renovations next year.
“The White House on the Verdigris” was the hub of the 60,000-acre Dog Iron Ranch controlled by Rogers’ father, Clem Rogers, a prominent Cherokee citizen for whom Rogers County was named. William Penn Adair “Will” Rogers, named for another leading Cherokee, was born in 1879 and left home in 1901 to become a gaucho in Argentina.
Rogers never lived at the ranch again but returned often and bought 20 acres overlooking Claremore for a retirement home. The Will Rogers Memorial now occupies the site.
The Dog Iron ranch house was moved about a mile from its original location to its present site in 1960 to prevent it from being flooded by the creation of Lake Oologah. It now sits on 162 acres.