06/12/2026
My Alma mata.
In late 1891, Stillwater School Principal Edward Francis Clark gathered the twelve pupils from his highest-ranking class together at the town’s Congregational Church. As one student named James Homer Adams later recalled, “Not only had we washed our necks, but we had scrubbed behind our ears, and our overalls were freshly washed and ironed.” Once inside the youngsters were treated to the familiar experience of Bible readings followed by a sermon, until another man brought their attention to an isolated table at the front of the room. This man told the youngsters they would each be asked to sign the book and began to call their names.
Young Adams was called first and came forward to the table. The man asked, "Do you understand what you are being asked to do?” “No sir, I don’t believe I do,” the boy replied. Once the man explained, Adams wrote his name down on the first line of the first page and thereby became the first registered student of Oklahoma A&M College. The other attendees signed as well, and their names were soon joined by more than 30 others. All these students were from Stillwater, and as far as anyone knows none of them had even completed high school, but they nonetheless would constitute the inaugural class of what would become Oklahoma State University.
On June 10, 1896, Oklahoma A&M held its first-ever graduation ceremony. Pictured here, this first graduating class was comprised of James Homer Adams along with Arthur Wesley Adams, Ervin Greeley Lewis, Oscar M Morris, Alfred Edwin Jarrell and Frank Ellsworth Duck. The ceremony was held in what was at the time the campus’ only permanent building – today known as Old Central – with each graduate giving a speech and being presented a congratulatory bouquet of flowers. The college would expand greatly over the coming decades, educating tens of thousands of students and growing into the second-largest university in the state before changing its name to Oklahoma State University in 1957.
You can discover more fascinating historical tidbits about America’s Friendliest College Town on our website at https://tinyurl.com/StillwaterHistory
