Below: Lisa Melchior, president of the Saline Preservation Association, and Cherokee tribal leaders like Councilor Johnny Keener (right) are trying to save the 1880s-era Saline District Courthouse near Rose.
DAVID CRENSHAW / Tulsa World

Effort under way to save tribal courthouse

They'd better start talking fast. The one-time Cherokee Nation Saline District Courthouse is the last of its kind still standing, and at close to 120 years old it may not last much longer.

Not without help, anyway.

"It doesn't really matter how much it costs," Lisa Melchior said. "It's worth saving."

Melchior, a Cherokee, is president of the Saline Preservation Association. She has joined forces with tribal leaders to raise money for restoring the 1880s-era courthouse.

Cherokee Nation Deputy Chief Joe Grayson is one of those leaders calling for the building's revival.

"It has a very colorful history," Grayson said. "A lot of people will want to work on this, and we'll find a way to get them involved."

The inspiration behind that perspiration, tribal officials believe, will be a love of history. The Saline District Courthouse -- so named for nearby salt wells -- is the only one remaining of nine district justice venues built within the tribe's boundaries to handle misdemeanor and civil cases in the mid-to-late 19th century.

Bigger cases were taken to Tahlequah, typically, but amateur historians argue that much more than petty thievery and business grievances were aired on the courthouse grounds near the Rose community.

"Once upon a time it was known that there was a hanging tree here," Cherokee Councilor Johnny Keener said. "And they did use it."

Others are unwilling to go out on a limb concerning the hanging tree stories. But everyone concerned with the Saline courthouse agreed that the place is full of stories -- old grave markers of lives cut short by disease and mayhem, reputed murders and a clear, cool spring which never seems to run dry.

The SALINE COURTHOUSE was a center for the local Cherokee community. A general store and blacksmith's shop operated only a stone's throw away, Melchior noted.

The Cherokees disbanded the district courthouse system near the turn of the 20th century, she said. The Saline building was then sold to the highest bidder and served as a residence until about 1970.

That was the year that Connie Jolliff's mother, Florine Ransom, sold the house to the state of Oklahoma. More than a decade later the state sold it back to the Cherokee Nation.

Jolliff, who now lives in Tahlequah, remembered how much she loved growing up in such a mysterious, historical home.

"It was fascinating," she said. "We heard a lot of stories from the old Indians around. It was like a paradise to us."

Paradise lost, it turned out. The state promised to keep the property up, Jolliff noted, but didn't.

She is thrilled that someone has finally stepped forward to try and save the SALINE COURTHOUSE.

"That was my mother's dream to have it redone," Jolliff said. "She passed away last year."

An architect has volunteered to check out all of the old courthouses deficiencies and needs -- from the glassless window openings to a rotting porch to the lead-based paint clinging to walls.

Whatever the problem is, Melchior vowed, will be no big worry. An aged, yet sturdy roof has kept out much of the moisture and, besides, she believes the place is too valuable not to fix.

"I'm sure there are a lot worse buildings that have been restored," Melchior said.

The SALINE COURTHOUSE is listed on Preservation Oklahoma's endangered list. Supporters like Melchior, Keener and Grayson believe it deserves a better fate than gradual collapse, serving as a late-night spook house for teenagers, or worse, demolition.

They see it as a possible historical hotspot for sightseers. Visitors could once again walk the home, sit quietly at the spring house or study the weather-worn tombstones at the front of the property.

Either way, it'll get people talking again.

"This building is important," Keener said. "Once we get started, I believe the community will come back."

For more information on the old Cherokee courthouse or the Saline Preservation Association, contact Melchior at (918) 825-7868.