Our History:

James Marshall Anthis came to Indian Territory from Vincennes Indiana, where he was a farmer. As was common at that time, James took a tourist train from Indiana to Texas...he never made it to Texas though.  Legend has it that it was a beautiful late February day in 1901, temperature was in the 70s, a warm breeze carried the sun's rays. This was unheard of in Indiana at that time of year. James was so enthralled with the weather, that he found the conductor of the train and asked to be let off at the next train station. The next station was at Mounds, Indian Territory. A fine little rural hamlet in Creek county. James spent the next week there. When James returned to Indiana, he sold the farm, packed up his belongings and his family, then made the trek to Mounds where he purchased the Commercial Hotel. James, being the enterprising gentleman that he was, used to board lodgers in exchange for land. many of the smaller tracts of land in Creek county were acquired in this fashion. He also acquired many other tracts of land, all within a one day buggy ride from Mounds. In 1904, James started James M. Anthis and Sons.  Soon there was oil to be found in nearby places like Red Fork and later in Glenpool. There were oil men who used his hotel as their base of operations. One day, a hotel guest, a land man to be sure, came in frustrated because he could not get one of the locals to sign a lease to drill a well. In an epiphany, that would shape later generations of his family, James made better terms with the gentleman, who signed a lease with him. A well was spudded that came in at 1000 barrels per day. It didn't take James long to realize that this was a better road to riches than the hotel business. He continued buying land and mineral rights. But in Indian Territory, the deeds and leases had to be filed in the capital of Muskogee. A dusty and tough 2 day buggy ride. So James packed up his belongings, again. He packed up his family, again, and moved to Muskogee in 1907.    Over 100 years later, James M. Anthis and Sons lives on as Anthis Land Company, LLC, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, a company still run by and for the grateful and lucky family that meant so much to him.