PAWNEE RESERWVE, Okla. – Pawnee Mayor Cottle and other city officials held a special meeting at 10 a.m. at City Hall (located at 510 Illinois) to consider possible action to rename Main Street (currently Harrison Street) as Pawnee Nation Street.
While other items were on the agenda for special meetings, discussion about the possibility of honoring the Pawnee Nation with a permanent street took priority when the Pawnee Business Council (PBC) presented the graceful, official request to rename the main street to Pawnee Nation .
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City officials reserve the right to gather information about the potential for “red tape” surrounding the “renaming” process. Joyce Cheatham (Ward 5) researched the history of Harrison Street before agreeing to the name change and noted that she saw “no problem” with moving forward with the name change.
Police Chief Wesley Clymer was present at the meeting, along with County Assessor Melissa Waters. Emergency services staff pointed out that the new name would NOT adversely affect their services.
To give a timeline of the history of nomenclature, the town itself has long borne the name of the Pawnee tribe (moved from Nebraska to Oklahoma between 1873 and 1875).
The post office was redesignated from Pawnee Agency to Pawnee in 1893. The city was incorporated in April 1894. According to the public Pawnee County Historical Museum Day Proclamation, “a small group of concerned Pawnee citizens first met on September 28, 1978. (https://www.pawneechs.org/proc-county.html).”
The next City Council meeting date can be found HERE where further discussion and possible action will take place on behalf of the Pawnee Nation’s request. Mayor Cottle did not issue a statement after the meeting.
About the Author: “Levi \”Calm Before the Storm\” Rickert (Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation) is the founder, publisher and editor of Native News Online. Rickert was awarded the Best Column 2021 Native Media Award for the print category\/ online by the Native American Journalists Association. He is a member of the advisory board of the Multicultural Media Correspondents Association. He can be reached at levi@nativenewsonline.net.
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