1095 - Red Store

A common type of business in the Southwest, Indian trading posts started appearing in the 1700’s. These hubs of commerce were integral to the communities around them. The stores held varieties of goods that supplied Native Americans everything they needed, and also bought from them the items they produced. The Red Store in Comanche County was one such place. The post was built in 1885 by Richard Alexander Sneed, a former Confederate soldier. It was situated next to the Fort Sill Indian Agency and south of Fort Sill. The building was two stories tall. There were two other trading posts in the agency complex, the Cox Store and George Pascal’s store.

The Red Store saw frequent use by Native Americans. Prominent names include White Wolf, purported to be the longest-living Native alive; and Quanah Parker, also called “the last Chief of the Comanche.” It was such an important location at the time that the Jerome Commission used the store as a meeting point in 1892 to discuss allotting land to each Kiowa, Comanche and Apache tribal member living on the KCA reservation.

However, that building didn’t last forever. The Red Store moved to downtown Lawton in 1911. The store served people for decades, but eventually it closed as the need for trading posts passed into obscurity. Its last proprietors were historian Arthur Lawrence and his father, Armsby Dale Lawrence. The original building was moved to the now defunct Eagle amusement park in nearby Cache, Oklahoma. All that remains at the original location is the basement of the building and its cistern located in an empty field.