Skiatook’s new welcome sign emphasizes Native heritage

By Robert Smith, News Editor, Skiatook Journal

“Skiatook: Where the Cherokee & Osage Meet,” is the message that visitors to the city will see on a new welcome sign that faces southeast from the northwest corner of the intersection of State Highway 11 and State Highway 20.

City Manager Dan Yancey explained the message refers to the fact that a borderline of the Osage Nation and the Cherokee Nation runs through Skiatook.

“There’s a lot of Indian heritage in Skiatook,” Yancey said. “That’s more of a heritage than the lake itself.”

Yancey said the Cherokee Nation helped with the cost of the sign on the east side of the city, which is now in place, and the Osage Nation is receptive to helping with a similar sign that is planned for the west side of the city, near the Osage Casino/Hotel.

The sign for the west side will use the Osage name first, Yancey said. The two signs are elements of a larger plan for signage that is intended to also include a new sign to the east of the city that will promote Skiatook as the gateway to Skiatook Lake.

Additionally, plans are being worked out for the representation of an official seal, or possibly some combination of official seals, on the pavement at the intersection of Rogers Boulevard and Osage, which is the county line between Osage and Tulsa counties, he explained.

Article reprinted with permission.