Ingram House

Before Europeans reached the area which is now Oklahoma, the Wichita people inhabited the area of the Wichita Mountains. In the last quarter of the nineteenth century the Kiowa and Comanche tribes were moved to a reservation in this area. As it became evident that the frontier was closing, white settlers increased their demands for the opening of Indian lands. The area of the Wichitas was not broken up for settlement, however, as the leases of the grazing land to Texas cattlemen prevented. this.

At the turn of the century the efforts of the Oklahoma City Commercial Club, with its many influential civic leaders, persuaded the Oklahoma congressional delegation to support conservation efforts for the Wichita Mountains. The area was proclaimed the Wichita Forest Reserve in 1901'and a National Game Preserve in 1905.
It was on the edge of this preserve that Earl Ingram lived with his family and built his cobblestone ranch house. Ingram was a civil service employee at Fort Sill, and he reported that he constructed his home in "his time off." The stones and the sand used for mixing the cement were all available on his half section of ranch land. The lumber used in the building was purchased from Jones Lumber Company in nearby Cache: The Ingram family lived in a small house just to the north of the present structure during its construction. The house was built in 1928, and the Ingrams lived in it until 1942.

In that year emergency war time legislation resulted in Fort Sill taking the Ingram property to extend the artillery range. Then, after the war, the land was passed to the Fish and Wildlife Department in a land exchange. The Ingram House served as a refuge employee's residence until 1967, and was also used as a highway engineer's office. However, it has been vacant in recent years.

The Ingram House represents the style of architecture popular in this region of Oklahoma at the time of its construction. The Ingrams used the materials that were available from their land, the native stone and materials for mixing cement. The Ingram House is also a symbol of the ranching industry, which has been such an important factor in the development of Oklahoma.